Royal Pain
by shadrougeforever
Summary: Shadow and Sally meets Sally's brother, Elias who is prince of Kingdom of Acorn. They team up with Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters who try to stop Hao from ruling the kingdom. Meanwhile, Rouge and the rest of the Chaotix has their hands full while they try to protect Tech City from being taken over by The Dark Alliance. ShadowxRouge ShadowxSally ScourgexFiona COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

"Scourge!" Fiona had cried out as she saw the green hedgehog falling to the floor after being punched in the face by the tall dark figure who stood before them.

The room was dark, dreary, and full of dust and cobwebs. They were in an abandoned children's orphanage that was located in the outskirts of Tech City.

While Scourge laid there on the dirty floor with blood coming from his mouth, he had looked up at the black monstrous figure who stood before him.

"How dare you!" He shouted angrily. "You are not to sire anyone without my consent!"

He slowly looked away from him and looked down at the floor. He gritted his teeth, "I'm sorry, Lord Dark..."

The black demon angrily looked down at him with his fists still clenched. He then saw the red fox woman kneeling next to him and resting his head on her lap.

She held him close to her and locked her blood red eyes upon Dark's. "Please", she begged. "This was my choice. Don't kill him."

The demon glared menacingly towards the two until a male gray fox stood beside him and spoke up while he shuffled playing card in his hands.

"Though it was a sudden and stupid move of him to do, my Lord. We do have to keep in mind that she is a weapon specialist after all."

A white male bat placed a finger to his chin while he sat on an old wooden crate. "Yeah", he added. "She could be quite useful to us."

A young white female rabbit with long white hair had placed her hands onto the white bat's arm. "I agree with, Sky-sama!" Her fangs had flashed within her smile, "Besides she's pretty! Let's keep her!"

Dark watched as Fiona held onto the green hedgehog lovingly as she tried to protect him. "...Very well. But this better not happen again..." He growled as he stormed away from the group. Leaving them all in the room.

Once he left, Fiona slowly helped Scourge from the floor. "Are you okay?"

He stood to his feet and wiped some of the blood away from his mouth from where Dark had punched him. He tried to form a small smile to let her know that he was okay. "Heh, don't worry. He barely touched me." He then watched as she hugged his body tightly.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to be with you."

He placed his finger under her chin and made her look up at him. "Don't worry about it. I'm glad you're here, Fi."

Angel had arched an eyebrow, "You're lucky Lord Dark didn't kill you. I thought you knew we weren't allowed to sire mortals without permission?"

Scourge flashed his eyes over to the young rabbit girl while he held Fiona in his arms. "Well excuse fucking me! No one gave me a demon rule book or anything!"

Luthor had confronted the two while he continued to shuffle his playing cards. "Nonetheless, you do realize that you are now completely responsible for her right?"

He shifted his eyes over to the fox's in annoyance. "Don't worry, Luthor. I got this." He looked back to her and noticed that she was hungrily staring at Sky from across the room. He really got concerned when he heard a low growling coming from her. "...Fi? You okay?" He was then pushed to the side saw her charging her way towards Sky with her sharp fangs parted.

"Fiona, no!" He quickly grabbed her by her wrist and held her arm behind her back as he tackled her to the floor. She had then struggled to get him off of her while he held her down onto the floor. "Captain baby fangs is off the menu!"

Sky who didn't seem at all threatened by her had carelessly watched as Scourge tried to hold Fiona back. He rested his head in the palm of his hand as he fixed his yellow eyes onto them. "This is just pathetic..."

Angel held onto Sky's arm tighter as she watched Scourge trying to control Fiona. "Don't eat, Sky-sama! He's on our side!"

After struggling for a few moments, she had realized what she was trying to do and stopped struggling in Scourge's grip. Her eyes widened in horror while her heart raced inside of her chest. "Oh God...what was I gonna go?"

Luthor laughed under his breath. He knew she would go after Sky in particular just from the fact that he was the only mortal in the room and she could smell the blood in his body from a mile away. "This doesn't surprise me", he spoke while he placed his deck of playing cards back in the inside pocket of his black tailcoat. "You just turned her so I know she hasn't eaten yet. She needs to eat or else she won't be able to control her urges. She'll just aimlessly kill any mortal she lays her sights on."

After Scourge had helped her back off from the floor, Fiona suddenly felt weak in her legs and fell into Scourge's arms. "I feel so strange and weak..."

Scourge held her securely in his arms and stroked his fingers through her red hair. "Don't worry, Fi. I'll help you get through this. I promise."

The next morning at the Radiant Guard headquarters, Amethyst and the rest of the group were gathered in the lobby getting ready to take on another full day of work. Amethyst looked up at the clock on the wall and turned away as she placed her hands on her hips. "This is not like her. I've tried calling and texting her but I'm getting nothing."

Lydia who stood next to her looked over to her. "Maybe she just slept it?"

Silas had set down a stack of papers on top of the front desk. "What? And Riley too? I haven't seen her all morning either."

Kevin who sat at the front desk looked over to Silas in concern. "I hope they're both okay."

Amethyst bit her lip slightly and turned to the white female rabbit. "I'm worried..."

Lydia saw how nervous and worried she was getting and attempted to calm her down by gently holding her hand and caressing it. "Don't worry. I'm sure they're..."

The group was interrupted when a green female porcupine rushed through the doors of the agency.

"Amethyst!"

She turned to her in concern. "...Riley?" The pink lynx rushed over to her along with Lydia by her side. "Riley, where have you been?"

She had a panicked expression on her face. "It's Fiona!"

"What about Fiona?"

"She's...she's missing!"

The entire group then had worried looks on their face.

She began to explain, "I've looked everywhere for her. I even went to her apartment and she wasn't there. The entire place was trashed and the only thing I could find was her ID badge that was thrown onto her bed."

Amethyst had gotten even more concerned when she said that she was her apartment a complete wreck.

She slightly shook her head, "Even her backup emergency weapons...they're all gone!"

Amethyst had then began to assume the worst. She thought maybe she was kidnapped and the attacker found and stole all of her weapons. She placed her hand over her mouth in worry, "Oh God..."

Kevin just knew that something bad had happened to her. He stood from the desk chair he had sat in. "Damn it. This isn't good."

Silas looked back over to Riley in worry. "Something must have happened."

Lydia turned back to Riley and tried to remember the last time everyone had saw her and it was early yesterday morning while she was training in the training room. "Riley, you were the last one who saw her. Do you have any idea what could've happened to her?"

Riley thought about the last encounter she had with Fiona and had remembered that she had thanked her for being a good friend after when she was so angry while she was training. Her eyes widened in horror as horrible thoughts came rushing to her head. "She was so upset..."

"...Upset?" Amethyst spoke blankly.

Riley slowly looked back up at Amethyst and debated if she really wanted to bring up Fiona's hidden relationship with Scourge before he had disappeared and joined The Dark Alliance. She knew that Fiona wanted her to keep everything a secret but this was all falling apart so fast. She had to tell her. "...About Scourge."

Lydia arched an eyebrow as she heard Scourge's name slipping from her mouth. "Scourge? Why? She never spoke of him before to us."

Riley slowly shifted her eyes away from them and placed her hand on the side of her forehead as she still debated on telling them all the full story with Scourge and Fiona. She then saw Amethyst place her hands gently on her shoulders.

Her eyes were fixed upon hers. "Riley, if there's something you know, you need to tell us. Otherwise we may not find out what happened to her."

Riley took a deep breath as she started to finally explain, "This is what happened..."

The next day in Tech City, the Chaotix group were gathered outside of a fairly big college along with a big crowd of other people who were seated and facing a large stage that was set in front of them.

Joyce happily turned to the black and red male hedgehog who had sat next to her. "Oh Shadow, thank you so much for taking time off your busy schedule to come see Freya graduate from her college."

He turned to her with a small smile. "Hey no problem. Freya wouldn't stop talking about how excited she was to finally graduate so we all decided to come see her. We're all proud of her." He then felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to the white bat woman who sat next to him. He then saw her suddenly placing a video camera in his hands.

She formed a small smile and winked towards him. "Make sure you get a good shot of Freya when she grabs her diploma."

A sweat drop appeared on the side of his head, "Why can't you do it?"

"Because..." She began to gently bounce the male baby black hedgehog on her leg while he had waved his little hands around in happiness. She arched an eyebrow towards him, "My hands are already full trying to keep your son quiet."

He then felt Joyce gently tugging at his arm. He turned to her while she had pointed at the stage in front of them in excitement.

"Oh! Oh! Here she comes!"

He raised the video camera up and watched as Freya walked on stage to get her diploma while she wore a long dark blue graduation gown. He heard Rouge, Joyce, and the others cheer for her within the crowd.

"That's my girl!"

"You go, Freya!"

"We knew you could do it!"

Once Freya had her diploma in her hand, she looked back at the crowd of people and made a wide and excited smile. Once she walked off the stage, she was tackled with a hug by Risa who also had on a graduation gown.

"Freya! You did it, girl!"

She tightly hugged the female yellow lemur in return. "Hey! You didn't look too bad up there yourself", she giggled. The two were then interrupted when they heard a fake cough next to them. They both turned to a male black wolf with red hair who had held a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

Risa made a teasing look towards the red ferret. "I'll give you some privacy with your man." She playfully pushed her over to the wolf and then walked off to talk with talk with her other classmates.

When Risa had left her alone with him, she turned to him with a small blush on her face. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world", he held the flowers over to her.

She took the flowers and held them in her hands, "Oh Midnight, you're so sweet."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. "Congrats, babe."

"Thanks, Midnight." She had then leaned in and pulled him into a passionate kiss. The two were then interrupted when they heard Appex's voice.

"Okay you two. Don't make me get the water hose."

Freya and Midnight broke their kiss and turned to the group of detectives who approached them with happy looks on their faces.

Freya smile warmly at the group. "Guys! I'm so glad you came out to see me!"

Tonya smiled warmly towards her while she slightly leaned against Espio's chest while he had his hand on her waist. "We are so proud of you, Freya."

"Yeah!" Ker happily exclaimed. "We knew you had it in you!"

She smiled warmly at the group, "Thanks, guys!" She slightly looked around and didn't spot Shadow and Rouge within the group, "Hey where's the boss and Miss Rouge?"

While holding Spike in her arms, she turned to Shadow with a worried look while she saw him turned away from her while he talked on his cell phone.

He had his hand in his pants pocket and stood there with his back turned to Rouge while he spoke in a frustrated tone over the phone. "What? Now? Can it wait?"

Rouge didn't know what was going on but she had heard bits and pieces coming from the conversation. From how he had sounded, it didn't sound good.

"Fine. I'll be there as soon as I can."

When she saw him getting off the phone, she gave him a concerned look when he spun back around to her. "What's wrong, hun?"

He placed his hand on his forehead in frustration as he started to explain. "Sarah's calling for an emergency meeting down at her office. All Council members has to be there."

She slightly sighed, "...Can it wait? I mean it's Freya's graduation."

He slowly shook his head, "Sorry, hun." He leaned over to her and kissed her forehead, "Tell Freya I'm sorry. I'll catch up with you guys later" He held her hand before he started to walk way. "I love you."

A saddened look appeared on her face as she watched him walk away. "I love you too...", she spoke sadly under her breath.

 **Author's Note: Oh geez! Shadow is such a busy guy! And looks like Rouge has taken note of it! Wonder how she'll cope with him being gone so much? Hmm!**

 **And here she is in all of her glory! New story! Hooray! Now this story does take after Whispers In The Dark so if anyone's a little confused, you might wanna go back a story and check into that. Anyway! This story will reveal many things! It'll reveal how Scourge and Fiona adjusts to the life of being demons together and it'll tell why Sally is such a raging bitch all the time. Also this will focus on Shadow and Sally's blossoming friendship...perhaps something even more...**

 **Anyway, I'm really excited for this story, guys and I hope you all will enjoy it as well! Get ready! You're all in for a ride! See you guys on the flip side!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Espio: Something wrong, Rouge?**

 **Rouge: Shadow's been gone so much. He's never around anymore...**

 **Sarah: You are to assist Sally with her assignment to Acorn Kingdom.**

 **Sally: You've got to be kidding me!**

 **Shadow: I'd rather take a beating than travel anywhere with Princess bitch over here...**

 **Sally: Abomination!**

 **Sarah: Christ! You two are impossible...**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

After a few days had passed, it was early that morning at The Chaotix Detective Agency. The group of detectives were gathered in the lobby discussing about what had been happening the last few days.

Freya was slightly rocking her body back and forth while she sat on a black stool with wheels on it. "This is nuts. First Scourge goes AWOL and goes team demon and now Fiona's gone missing?"

Midnight placed a finger to his chin while he leaned his back against the wall while he stood next to Freya. "Well according to what Shadow said, apparently the both of them were seeing each other before everything had happened."

Tonya spoke while she sat in her desk chair, "Maybe they ran away together?"

"Or maybe he took her off and killed her. He is a demon now after all", Ker spoke.

Espio had leaned his body against Tonya's desk, "We won't know until the Council releases more information."

Appex had glanced around the lobby, "Hey where is Shadow anyway? I thought he was here earlier?" He then heard Rouge speaking while she stood in front of the window with her back turned and arms crossed.

"He's off at another meeting...again..." she spoke in a low yet angry tone.

Freya turned to the purple chameleon, "The boss has been in and out of the Chaotix a lot lately huh?"

Espio shrugged his shoulders, "Well a lot's been going on. I guess the Council needs him and the rest of the team leaders now more than ever."

"Whatever", Rouge had huffed angrily. "The Council's a fucking joke."

Appex arched an eyebrow as he noticed Rouge's bitter attitude, "...Something wrong, Rouge?"

"No of course not. Everything is just perfect", she spoke sarcastically as she turned back to the group.

"...Um?" Appex knew that something had clearly been bothering her.

Espio turned to the irritated bat woman with concern. "Okay, bat girl. What's been going on?"

She slightly shook her head and debated if she really wanted to tell them all what had been bothering her. "It's nothing...it's just...Shadow..."

The chameleon arched an eyebrow, "What? Did you two have a fight or something? He seemed fine this morning before he left to go to that meeting."

She shook her head, "No it's nothing like that." She sighed heavily before she began to explain. "It's just...he's been gone so much. I barely even see him anymore because he's been so busy."

"Well", Ker had spoken. "He is our leader and he is on the Council."

Espio made a slight nod as he agreed. "Yeah he's kind of a busy guy. I thought you knew that by now?"

She started to angrily pace around the lobby. "I know. I know what his job title is and all. It's just he's never here anymore." She looked over to Freya. "He has to miss out on so much. Like your graduation."

The red ferret had given her an uneasy look. She thought she was simply upset from the fact that Shadow had to leave early that day and couldn't celebrate with the rest of them. "Oh hey it's cool. The boss is busy a guy. I understand. I'm not mad at him for ditching or anything."

Midnight had scoffed slightly under his breath, "I'm surprised he even showed up to be honest."

"It's not just that." Rouge crossed her arms and sadly looked down to the floor. "If he couldn't be there for Freya's graduation, then what else will he miss?" She looked back up at the group. "What about our son? He won't be there when he takes his first step or say his first words." She placed her hand on the side of her head, "He won't be there for Spike when he's growing up." She sadly sighed, "If he's never around, then what kind of relationship will he have with his son?"

Espio had agreed that Shadow had been gone a lot lately. He knew how Rouge was feeling and she was just concerned for Spike's future. For when Spike would finally mature enough to realize how much his father would be absent from his life. It was a scary thought but he couldn't imagine Shadow ever letting something like that happen. He walked over to her and placed his hand gently on her shoulder, "Come on, Rouge. You're thinking way too much about this. Just because he's not around a lot now, it doesn't mean he'll always be away."

She had gave him a saddened and unsure look.

He formed a warm smile. "Shad's a great dad and you know it. He loves you and Spike more than anything else in the world. He won't let his job keep him from being there for you guys."

She made a faint smile, "I hope you're right..."

Meanwhile in Sarah Wish's office, Sarah sat at her desk while she spoke to Shadow and Sally who had sat in chairs in front of her desk. "I'm glad you two could come in. We have a situation."

Sally crossed her arms and legs as she flashed her eyes away from Shadow in disgust. "Yeah well you mind telling us what's going on? Where are the other Council members?"

"Yeah", Shadow added. "What is this?"

The yellow fox woman had pointed towards Sally. "This actually has a lot to do with you."

Sally pointed to herself. "...Me?"

She made a nod and took a stack of papers off her desk and handed them to Sally. "Yes you...Princess Sally."

Shadow arched an eyebrow while Sally had begun to look through the papers. "...Princess?"

Sarah continued, "There's a situation involving your older brother in Kingdom of Acorn."

Shadow turned to Sarah and then back at Sally. "Brother?" He didn't have a clue what was going on. Sally was a princess? She had a brother? What the hell was going on?

Sally's heart raced as she glanced through the papers she had held in her hands. "...Elias..." She looked back at Sarah while she had spoke again.

"Acorn Kingdom is in trouble. Hao's out of prison and he's disrupting the kingdom. Prince Elias can't take him on alone not with an army of robots destroying everything in sight."

Sally quickly stood from her chair and placed her hand on her chest. "If my brother needs help then I'm going to help him." She then saw her raise her hand up at her.

"Hold on. You're going but not alone."

Sally's eyes had then slowly wandered over to the black and red hedgehog who sat beside her. She realized what Sarah had meant and began to panic. She quickly looked back over to Sarah and shook her hands. "Oh no! No! No! No! Please tell me you're not going to..."

Sarah had then looked back over to Shadow, "Shadow, you are to assist Sally with her assignment in Kingdom of Acorn." Afterwards, she heard the both of them yelling and screaming in disbelief.

"Oh God!" Sally shouted in horror.

Shadow jumped up from his chair having the same reaction as Sally. "No way! No fucking way! Hell to the fucking no!" He pointed at the chipmunk. "You are not sending me way out in the middle of fucking nowhere kingdom with princess bitch a lot over here!"

Sarah heavily sighed and placed her hand on her forehead as she was prepared to hear them constantly complain about their mission together.

Sally held her hands out to her. "Please, Miss Wish! Anyone but him!"

She angrily glared at her. "Don't be like this! You need him with you! He's had plenty of past experience when it comes to bringing Hao down. Besides, you need a strong ally and Shadow is the best there is."

"Trust me. I don't need any help from some half demon", she spoke in a low and bitter voice. "I can take care of my kingdom by myself."

Sarah again raised her hand towards her. "That's enough, Sally. My decision is final."

Sally slammed her hands down onto the desk as she was finding it harder and harder to convince her not to allow Shadow to come with her. "But..."

Shadow placed his hand on his forehead, "Christ. Just fucking kill me."

Sally bitterly turned her head to him, "Well if you close your eyes and wish real hard..."

He gave her a disgusted look, "God you're such a bitch. I can't believe you're a princess of anything."

She gritted her teeth and angrily pointed at him, "Watch it, abomination."

He took a step forward to her while having his fists clenched. "What?"

Sarah stood from her chair and angrily glared at the two who were arguing. "Stop it! Both of you! I've had it up to here with you both always fighting!" She crossed her arms, "Maybe this assignment will help you two to finally get along with each other."

Sally crossed her arms and turned away from the hedgehog. "Don't count on it", she spoke in a low and bitter tone.

"Same here", he had spoke coldly as he turned away from her as well.

Sarah scratched the side of her head as she looked at the two. 'God damn it. These two are impossible! At least with them gone it'll finally be quiet.'

It was much later on that evening at the Chaotix. Everyone had already left for the day except for Shadow who had sat at the front desk. He had decided to make a video call over the computer. He leaned his back against the desk chair he had sat in and watched as a image of a male black jackal had appeared on the screen.

The jackal had greeted him with a small yet friendly smile. "Shadow? Hey! How are ya?"

He made a small nod, "Good evening, Luke. Sorry I called you so late."

"Hey it's no problem. I'm just sitting around filling out paperwork before I call it a day. What's up?"

He sighed before he spoke to him. "I'm sorry to ask but do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Um sure, Shadow. Anything."

He began to explain to him. "Sarah has decided to send me on a mission to Kingdom of Acorn."

"Really? Sounds like fun."

"...With Sally..."

He paused for a moment and then gave him a sympathetic look. "...I'm so sorry, dude."

He crossed his arms, "Yeah tell me about it. Apparently she's some kind of princess?"

Luke had arched an eyebrow, "...Sally Acorn? Royalty?"

He scoffed under his breath bitterly and leaned his back against the black desk chair he was sitting in, "Yeah. A royal pain in my ass..."

"So when you leaving?"

"Sarah already arranged our flight. We leave tomorrow morning."

"Wow so soon?"

"The mission is pretty urgent so she wants us there as soon as possible. But anyway that's not why I called you."

"Okay what's up?"

"If things decide to get rough while I'm gone, do you think you could give Espio and the rest of the team a hand?"

"Yeah, man. It's no problem. I'll be sure to back them up if shit starts to get crazy over there."

A smile of relief formed on his face, "Thanks, Luke. I knew I could count on you."

"No problem. Good night and good luck...I'm sure you'll need it since you got your hands full with Sally."

"...You have no idea. Good night and thanks again." Once he ended the video call, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He turned to Rouge who had walked from the back of the agency.

She leaned against the wall and sadly looked over to him. "...You're gonna be gone for awhile aren't you?"

He made a slow nod, "I'll be gone until the mission is complete."

She slowly shifted her eyes from his. She didn't want him to go. She wanted him to stay with her and Spike but she knew he had to.

He noticed her saddened expression and figured she was upset about him leaving and so suddenly. "...You gonna be okay?"

She carelessly shrugged her shoulders while she looked away from him. "I don't really have a choice do I?"

He had then stood from his chair and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her body lovingly and held her. "I'm sorry, hun. I don't want to leave either."

She looked up at him and faintly smiled. "It's fine, Shad. It is your job after all." She wanted to tell him how she really felt about everything but she knew it would do nothing but probably start an argument between the two.

He leaned his forehead against hers and caressed her face gently. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much."

She made a small nod, "We're gonna miss you too, hun."

"I'll come back to you. I promise."

She gently placed her hand over his, "I know you will."

His lips were only inches away from hers, "I love you", he spoke softly.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fight back the tears that were swelling in her eyes. "I love you too, Shad." She was then pulled into a slow and passionate kiss by him. As she kissed him, a tear had ran down her face. She knew this wasn't goodbye but she had felt like he had already left her.

The next morning, Espio, Rouge, and Nicole were at the airport seeing Shadow and Sally off.

Sally formed a warm smile towards the black and brown lynx woman who had stood beside Rouge and Espio. "Okay Nicole, you know the drill. You're in charge until I get back."

The lynx saluted and formed a wide smile, "Don't worry! You can count on me, Sal!"

"Good and also..." She had then gave her a threatening look, "You and Luke better not fuck anywhere in my agency!"

A deep blush had formed on her face. "Sa-Sally! That only happened once!"

She pointed at her angrily. "You were fucking! In the break room! On the table! We eat there!"

Her blush deepened on her face as she remembered Sally catching her and Luke having sex on the break room table when he had visited her for lunch that day. "...We cleaned up after each other..."

While Sally was talking to Nicole, Espio turned to Shadow and held out his fist towards him while having a smirk on his face. "All right, Shad. You go show Acorn Kingdom what we're all about."

He had fist bumped with him while he gave him the same smirk in return. "Will do. Just try not to burn the place down while I'm gone."

He placed his hands in his pants pockets and smiled, "Hey no promises."

He then turned to Rouge who had held Spike in her arms. He walked over to her and hugged her lovingly. "I'll be back before you know it."

She looked up at him while he held her, "I love you, Shadow."

"I love you too, hun." He leaned over to her and pressed his lips against hers.

Espio and Nicole made warm smiles as the two shared their last kiss together before Shadow had left for Acorn Kingdom.

Sally glanced over to Shadow who was kissing Rouge goodbye. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes in annoyance as she turned away from them and began to walk off.

Once he broke their kiss, he looked down at Spike who was clinging onto Rouge's shirt. "Don't give your mother a hard time while I'm gone okay?"

The baby hedgehog smiled and laughed as he watched Shadow starting to walk off.

Espio and Nicole waved at the two as they both started to walk away from them. "See ya! Be careful, guys!"

Rouge slightly bit her lip as she watched the both of them walk away.

While the two walked beside each other, Shadow had heard Sally speaking in a low tone to him.

Sally flashed her eyes over to him. "Geez what were you doing back there? Saying goodbye to your wife or tongue fucking her?"

With a small blush on his face, he angrily shouted at her. "You shut your mouth, Acorn!"

"I hope I don't get stuck sitting next to you during the entire flight!" She had shouted back at him.

"Oh yeah? You and me both, princess!"

The three of them awkwardly watched as Shadow and Sally argued with each other throughout the airport.

Nicole had made a worried look, "I hope they don't kill each other..."

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Espio's head, "If that's the case, then Hao's not gonna have too much to worry about."

Rouge watched in worry as they both walked away. 'Shadow, I pray you make it back safely...'

 **Author's Note: Spoiler alert...yes Shadow and Sally did end up sitting next to each other on the plane ride. lol Anyway, I know I got this chapter up super fast but I just knew I wouldn't be able to post the chapter tomorrow because of my busy schedule. But omg! I wasn't expecting to get so much positive feedback from you guys and so quickly! You guys really make me happy that you're enjoying the story so far! There will be more to come as the week progresses so sit tight! Thank you so much again, guys! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Shadow: This place...seems so familiar...**

 **Sally: Don't trust him, Elias. He's an abomination...**

 **Elias: Sally...she's changed so much...**

 **Shadow: Elias...why did she leave Acorn Kingdom?**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

After many long hours later after their flight, Sally slowly walked through the field full of green grass towards the ledge of the cliff she had stood on. Her eyes glanced up at the clear morning blue sky. As her long wavy red hair fluttered gently in the wind, she stared down upon the small village below her. Her eyes then caught sight of a huge beautiful castle in a distance from the village. While she stared at the castle, Shadow had stood next to her.

His eyes were fixed upon the castle as well. "So this is it, huh? Kingdom of Acorn..."

"Yes", she spoke in a low yet saddened tone. "This is my home..."

He felt like he couldn't take his eyes away from the castle, "This place..."

Sally slightly shifted her eyes over to him.

"It seems so familiar..."

Before she could ask what he had meant, the two of them had suddenly heard what sounded like a car coming towards them.

They both spun around and saw a small light blue car driving towards them. They watched the car stop in front of them. They then saw a male purple koala step out of the car and started to approach them.

The koala wore a blue and yellow long sleeve shirt, blue pants, brown boots, and white gloves. He had bowed in front of them. "Princess Sally, welcome back to Kingdom of Acorn."

With an excited look on her face, she ran over to the koala and tackled him with a hug. "Gardon! It's you! I missed you so much!"

With a light blush on his face, he nervously smiled while she tightly hugged him. "It's good to see you again as well, Princess."

"Same here!" She pulled her body from his and placed her hands on his shoulders "I hope Elias isn't working you too hard."

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Oh you know the Prince." His eyes then wandered over to the black and red hedgehog who stood near them and appeared to have a confused look on his face. "Oh and you must be Shadow...right?"

He made a small nod.

Suddenly a sly look had appeared on Gardon's face as he turned back to Sally, "So where'd you find this one, Princess?"

A deep red blush formed on her face, "Don't be stupid, Gardon!" She pointed angrily at the hedgehog while she shouted at Gardon. "I wouldn't hook up with him if he was the last man on Mobius!"

Shadow had given her an irritated look, "Trust me, Princess. You wouldn't be my first option either. I'd rather take a beating than spend the rest of my days with you."

She stormed over to him angrily, "Is that so?" She was so close to him, their faces were only inches apart from each other. "The nerve of you! Abomination!"

"Dumb bitch!"

Gardon backed away slowly as he witnessed the two arguing with each other. "Geez! Sorry for trying to joke around a little!" He turned to the car, "Anyway, Prince Elias sent me here to escort you both to the castle." He turned back to them, "We should get going."

Sally had then sighed in relief, "Thank goodness. For a second there, I thought we had to walk to the castle."

"Yeah", Shadow spoke blandly as he started to walk towards the car. "We wouldn't want your royal highness to collapse from such a long walk to her castle."

While Sally gave the hedgehog an annoyed look, Gardon couldn't help but to chuckle under his breath as she walked beside him towards the car. "He seems nice huh?"

"Don't start with me", she mumbled under her breath harshly.

Later while Gardon was driving Shadow and Sally towards the castle, Sally was sitting in the backseat of the car along with Shadow. She gave Gardon an uneasy look while he drove the car. "Geez Gardon, you could've at least let me sit up front with you."

He glanced at the rear view mirror to look back at her. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Because..." Her eyes flashed over to the hedgehog who sat dangerously close next to her. "It's too cramped back here."

"Sorry, Princess." He held up a small dagger so she could see it. "I had to make room up here for my weapons in case there was an attack."

Shadow narrowed his eyes towards her while he rested his head on his hand while he looked out of the window of the car. "Well if you don't like it back here, there's plenty of room for you up on the roof or better yet in the trunk", he spoke bitterly.

She turned to him angrily, "Must you be a smartass about everything? For God's sake! I thought sitting next to you on a plane for ten plus hours was torture!"

He shrugged his shoulders, "How the hell so? I was minding my damn business reading a book!"

She was aware that he did like to read in his spare time. Even before meetings while they all waited around for Sarah. "But you're so tedious when you read! The constant sound of you flipping pages drove me nuts!"

"I'm a fast reader! What the hell do you want?"

Gardon rose an eyebrow as he looked back into the rear view mirror. "So", he started. "I take it you two aren't very fond of each other?"

Sally sighed heavily and crossed her arms as she tried to slid away from Shadow as much as she could. "...Long story." She glanced back up at Gardon, "Anyway, the attacks...have they been that bad here?"

Gardon had made a small pause. "...It's been Hell since this Hao guy came along and started threatening the kingdom."

Sally placed a hand over her mouth in worry. She could only imagine how much damage Hao did to the kingdom and how many lives were lost.

"We're doing everything we can to try to protect the kingdom. It's been rough but..."

"Don't worry", Shadow had suddenly spoken.

Gardon looked in the rear view mirror and glanced over to Shadow who had spoke while he continued to look out of the window.

Sally slightly looked over to him as well.

"Hao will be stopped. Count on it."

A small yet hopeful smile formed on Gardon's face. Even with what was going on within the kingdom, he always tried to think positive.

When they all had gotten to the entrance gate of the castle, they got out of the car and started to head inside of the castle until they heard a male voice near them.

"Well, well if it isn't my little sister..."

Sally spun around to turn to a male brown squirrel who stood at the entrance doors of the castle.

He had short red spiky hair and blue eyes. He wore a blue and yellow long sleeve shirt, blue fitted pants, a brown belt holster with a gold sword sheath, blue knee high boots, and a red cape.

Sally's eyes glistened in happiness as her eyes fell upon the male squirrel. "...Elias..." She then happily ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "Brother!"

With a wide and happy smile on his face, he happily hugged Sally tightly. "Sally, oh my God! Look at you!" He slowly pulled her away from him and looked her up and down. "Future City's been good to you I see."

She playfully hit his shoulder and giggled, "Oh shut up!"

His eyes had then fell upon the black and red hedgehog who had approached them. "And you must be Shadow?" He extended his hand out to him so he could shake it.

He made a small nod and shook the squirrel's hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Elias, prince of Kingdom of Acorn. I've heard great things about you."

Sally crossed her arms in annoyance, "Yeah well apparently you don't know everything about him", she muttered under her breath.

Shadow flashed his eyes over to the chipmunk, "Of course. If you hate me, then everyone else has to hate me too right?"

Despite Sally's bitter attitude towards Shadow, he gave the hedgehog a friendly smile, "Miss Sarah Wish has already informed me that you and my sister are not on the best of terms. But that doesn't mean we don't have to be."

Sally couldn't help but to have a bitter look on her face. She could already see that Elias was being open and friendly towards him without him actually knowing anything about him being a half demon.

Shadow had formed a small smile and made a nod towards him. Even at first impression, he could clearly see the difference between Sally and Elias despite the fact that the two were siblings.

"I'm glad you're here. We could use all the help we can get."

"Glad to be here, Elias."

When Elias felt a hand fall on his shoulder, he turned to his sister who had a concerned look on her face.

"Elias, father...how is he?"

He slightly bit his lip and his eyes had traveled down to the ground. He then turned to Shadow, "Shadow, before we get down to business, do you mind if I introduce you to someone?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Sure that's fine with me."

When they all walked through the castle, the inside of it was huge. There had appeared to be a door almost down the entire hallway they had walked.

Shadow had noticed there were a few portraits of Elias and Sally but also of an older squirrel and another older female chipmunk. He assumed the older chipmunk and squirrel were perhaps Sally and Elias' parents.

They came to a door that was down the very end of the hallway.

Elias slowly turned the doorknob and carefully and quietly walked inside with Sally and Shadow following behind him

They all had walked inside of a large bedroom that was lit up with many candles because the windows had the curtains closed preventing the morning sunlight to fill the dreary room.

Elias led them to a huge bed that was someone laying in it. He looked down at the bed sadly, "Father, Sally has come back and she's brought help to stop Hao."

Shadow looked down at the elder man who had laid in the bed. The way he had looked, it appeared that he was severely ill.

The man was a brown squirrel with blue eyes He had white hair and a white mustache. He laid there in bed with the dark blue bed sheets brought up to his shoulders.

Elias turned to Shadow, "Shadow, I would like you to meet our father and king of Acorn Kingdom, King Acorn."

Shadow saw how awful his condition was and was completely lost for words.

The sickened man's tired eyes had traveled over to Sally's saddened face. He slowly and weakly extended his hand out towards Sally. "Sally..." He called in a weak tone.

As Sally stared at her father, she couldn't help but to have tears swelling in her eyes. "Father..." She kneeled beside him and allowed him to caress her face lovingly.

He made a faint smile as he caressed her face. "Sally, my beautiful daughter. I'm so happy to see you again."

She sniffed softly as she tried to fight back her tears and smiled warmly towards him, "I missed you so much."

Shadow watched as the two reunited with each other and had never saw Sally act this way before. He knew that she always had a strong and firm composure. At times it appeared that she never made room for any type of feelings. While Shadow had witnessed the heartbreaking moment, he had then felt Elias slightly tap on his shoulder. He turned to him and saw him pointing towards the door. He had figured that he wanted Sally and their father to be alone with each other. When he stepped back out the room with Elias, he saw him quietly closing the door behind them.

"Sorry", he spoke as he turned to him and began to walk with him down the hallway. "I just thought we'd give them their privacy."

"It's cool. I understand. It looked like they haven't seen each other for awhile. I'm sure they have a lot to catch up on."

He made a nod, "Indeed."

He placed his hands in his pants pockets as he turned to him. "...So do you mind me asking what's going on with your father?"

He took a deep breath before he started to explain, "The king's been sick for awhile now. Ever since Sally left, he's just been getting worse and worse."

So King Acorn had been sick since Sally left the kingdom? He had known Sally being on the Council for years and years. He couldn't help but to wonder what had actually happened before Sally left.

"We've tried everything to help him but I don't think there's nothing we can do." His eyes slowly looked over to Shadow's, "I fear he doesn't have much time left."

Shadow slowly shifted his eyes away from him as he related to how he had felt. He remembered how sick Anita was before she had died. It still haunted him as he kept seeing her slowly dying in the hospital bed. "...I see. I'm sorry you're going through this."

He fought hard to not get too emotional. He felt like he had gotten used to seeing his father so sick. It was just the fact of talking about it that had saddened him. "He's old and sick. It's sad to say but I just expect the worse."

Shadow then saw him clasping his hands together and forming a warm smile.

"...Anyway on a lighter note, what do you think of the castle?"

He knew what he was trying to do. Changing the subject was the best way to avoid the depressing subject but he was still worried for him. He knew deep down that he was an emotional wreck. He arched an eyebrow as he glanced around the huge hallway they were walking through. "...It's really...big?"

He made a slight chuckle under his breath, "Yeah I know. Pretty gigantic huh? Come on. I'll show you some of the rooms." He had then led Shadow into a huge room that was full of bookshelves that were filled with books.

The room was enormous. It was like an actual library. There was a huge window allowing some of the morning light to shine within the room. Also there was a second floor that led to another floor that was full of bookshelves and books.

Shadow's mouth had dropped as he saw the many books that filled the room.

Elias made a sly look as he saw Shadow's expression, "This is the book room of the castle. But I guess you can call this a personal library." He glanced around the room room, "I like to read a lot in my spare time so I'm in here from time to time."

He turned to him with an unbelievable expression on his face. "...You have your own library?"

He could tell from his expression that he was impressed with the room. He crossed his arms and leaned his back against the wall as he watched him starting to start exploring around the room. "I take it you like to read?"

He took one of the books off the shelf and began to skim through the pages of it. "Hell yeah."

"Well you're more than welcome to come here whenever you want. My castle is your castle, my friend."

He made a small and warm smile towards him. "Thanks, Elias."

While he saw Shadow glancing through some of the books, he had couldn't help but to stare at him. It was strange but something about him had triggered his interest. "...So...you and my sister seem to go at each other a lot." A teasing look had then appeared on his face, "You guys fucking around or something?"

He had looked away from the book he was glancing through and made a disgusted look towards him. "Christ that's fucking gross. Why does everyone think we're fucking?"

A sweat drop had then formed on the side of his head. When he saw Shadow's reaction towards the comment, it was apparent he indeed didn't think much of Sally. "S-sorry! I just assumed..."

"Well you're wrong! We fucking hate each other." He then glanced back down at the pages of the book he was skimming through. "Besides, I'm happily married."

He made an uneasy laugh. Now he felt like a jackass. He would have never guess that he was already married. He never didn't want to judge but just by first impressions, Shadow had did come off as intimidating. He didn't really seem like to type to have a wife or a girlfriend in general. "Uh, right...sorry. But you guys...hate each other?"

He scoffed under his breath as he turned a page from the book, "Damn skippy."

He had to know what made Sally and Shadow hate each other. "But why? Aren't you two on the same team or something?"

"I'm not the one with the problem. Your sister's the shit starter."

"But why? Why does she hate you so much?"

He looked away from the book he held and shifted his eyes over to his.

Elias couldn't help but to stare into his red eyes. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something about him that sent a shiver down his spine. "...In the report, Sarah spoke something about you being...different?" He was slightly startled when he heard Shadow slamming the book he was holding shut. "Wha-what did she mean by that?"

He had then turned away from him and placed the book he had held back on the shelf. "...I'm a half demon."

His heart had then skipped a beat. Did he say what he actually heard from him. "De-demon?"

He sighed heavily and turned to him slowly, "...Yes..."

He took a small step away from him. He didn't know how to feel exactly. Shadow never really came off as a demon towards him. He talked to him and communicated with him without having a blood thirsty vibe coming from him. What the hell was going on? What exactly was he? "What? But I don't understand...are you some kind of good demon? I mean why else would Sarah send you here with my sister? How did you even get on the Council?"

He made a small nod, "It's a long story but at birth, I was born sick and weak. I wasn't going to live. But I was then given demonic blood by none other than Dark Demon."

Dark. He's heard his name before. There was never any talk of demons and demonic activity within the kingdom. But he was aware of what was going on outside of the kingdom. "Dark Demon? Ruler of all demons?"

He once again made a small nod, "I was born a mortal but having demon blood inside of me had made me half."

"You're a half demon..." He had spoke in a low tone.

He continued, "But I had no desire to kill or hurt anyone. I only want to help people. But everyone just knew that I was some kind of monster and hated me for it."

He began to wonder if that was all true, then how did he get on the Council? "...How did you end up on the Council and with Sally?"

His eyes slowly traveled down to the floor, "Years ago, I started out as a field mission specialist for the Chaotix Detective Agency. And as time passed, I rose up as their leader and now..." He looked back over to him, "Here I am. A leader of a detective team and a Council member."

He rubbed his chin slightly, "I see. Makes sense but...this is so unfair. With how you are treated. You clearly don't have the intention of hurting anyone. How can everyone judge you for something that you're not?"

"Exactly. But that's how it is I suppose. Demons don't exactly have good reputations..."

He couldn't help but to have a sympathetic look on his face. He could only imagine the hate he constantly had gotten every day in and day out.

"And out of everyone on the Council, Sally hates me the worst."

He couldn't understand that out of everyone, Sally was acting out as his worst enemy. "Sally?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders. "No matter what I do. No matter what I say, she just doesn't trust me. She thinks of me as nothing but a cold blooded killer. She'll hate me. She'll hate me until I'm dead..."

"But it sounds like she doesn't even personally know you. How can someone hate someone they barely know? She's just going by what you are and not who you are. I mean Sarah, your team, and even your apparent wife sees the good in you. Why can't Sally and the rest of the Council see that?"

He slightly turned away from him in sadness. "Your guess is as good as mine."

His eyes had then traveled down to the floor, "This...isn't right. Sally...she was never always like this..."

He wanted to believe him. He saw it. He saw what a happy and carefree person she was in the pictures he had seen throughout the castle. And he couldn't get the image of her having tears in her eyes when she had reunited with her father. What exactly happened to her? What made her the bitter and angry person she now was? "...Elias, why did she decide to leave Acorn Kingdom?"

His ears perked up as his question completely threw him off. He began to hesitate on answering him. Before he could answer him, the door to the room had been flung open. He and Shadow had turned to Gardon who had stood in the doorway with an alarming look on his face. "What is it, Gardon?"

"It's Hao!" He spoke practically out of breath, "He's attacking Knothole Village!"

Elias and Shadow had then turned to each other and knew they had to start prepping for their fight with Hao.

 **Author's Note: Well looks like Shadow and Sally finally made it to Acorn Kingdom and met up with Elias. Now if only those two could get along. lol! Well that's it for this week of updates! I'm planning to post more chapters next week so stay tuned! And thank you guys again for the awesome and kind reviews! You really keep me motivated! See you on the flip side! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Amethyst: I'm so worried about Fiona...**

 **Rick: Hate to break it to you but shit's been falling to pieces for awhile.**

 **Ash: You really need to chill, Nicole.**

 **Nicole: You guys are so obnoxious!**

 **Freya: Wait is that...**

 **Espio:...Charmy?**

 **Charmy: Guess who's back?**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Meanwhile at the Radiant Guard headquarters, Riley was in the garden room of the agency. She had kneeled down in front of an area that was covered in purple flowers. She sadly stared at the beautiful purple flowers that were set in front of her. 'Fiona...' She was suddenly startled when a hand had fell on her shoulder. She turned to a female white rabbit who stood behind her while giving her a sympathetic look. "...Lydia?"

"Hey", she took her hand from her shoulder and calmly kneeled down beside her. "You doing okay? You've been kind of down since..."

Riley sadly shifted her eyes from her and looked back down at the flowers. Had it been that obvious that she was worried sick about Fiona? "It's nothing. It's just..."

Lydia could hear the sadness in her voice. She was obviously upset about something.

"...She was my best friend..." She had to admit to herself that she was lonely. Yes she had the rest of the team to remain by her side but Fiona was different. Her relationship with Fiona stood out so much. They had been friends since the Radiant Guard had first formed. They were always with each other and always confided in each other. And just like that, Fiona had just vanished without a trace. She never felt so lost.

Just as she figured, she was indeed upset about Fiona. But she knew she couldn't do much to help the situation. All she could do was try to comfort her as she knew that her and Fiona were close friends. She slowly reached out to her and placed her hand back on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find her."

She turned back to her and gave her a faint smile. She wanted to cling onto some kind of hope and know that Fiona was okay. "...I hope you're right."

Meanwhile, Amethyst had worriedly paced around her huge office. Her office was like some kind of calming study. There was bookshelves on each side of the room that was full of books. She had pots and hanging baskets full of flowers located around the room. There was also a huge window that set in the back of her desk that allowed the bright morning sunlight to brighten up the room.

A male gray hyena had lazily leaned back in a black chair he had sat in that was set across from Amethyst's desk. He watched as Amethyst paced around the center of her office.

She had her arms crossed as she anxiously walked around the room. "Oh my...I don't know what to do."

The hyena rose an eyebrow, "You need to chill the hell out that's what you need to do."

She spun around to turn to the calm and laid back hyena. "Oh Rick, this is just awful. I feel like everything is just falling to pieces."

He slightly ran his fingers through his black hair and made a faint smirk. "Hate to break it to you but shit's been falling apart for awhile."

She sadly sighed, "First Scourge goes missing and now my poor Fiona is gone." She raised two of her fingers up towards him. "Both of them have disappeared. Not only did Luke lose his weapon specialist but I'm left without one too." She ran her fingers through her long pink hair in both frustration and nervousness. "And so many things could have happened. I don't know what to think of the situation at all." Once she flipped some of her hair back behind her shoulder, she saw him getting up from the chair he had sat in and walk over to her.

He reached his hand out towards her and began to gently caress her face while he had his other hand around her waist. "Calm down, babe. Everything's gonna be fine. So stop stressing yourself out."

She couldn't help but to form a small smile while he gently caressed the side of her face. She lightly placed her hand over his.

"This isn't you at all and believe me when I say I prefer the calm and mellow hippie girl over the spazzy one."

Her smile had slightly widened as she gently leaned her forehead against his. "I'm glad you're here, Rick", she spoke in a soft tone.

He made a small smile as he noticed that her mood was getting better. "I'm here for you, babe." He then slowly leaned in closer to her until his lips had pressed against hers gently.

She slightly pulled him closer to her by gently tugging on his dark green jacket while their kiss had deepened.

He pulled her body close to his and had his hands roaming around her lower waist.

She began to run her hands gently around his chest while small moans escaped her as both of their tongues danced in each other's mouths. She then felt him leading her away from the center of the room and gently pressed her back against the wall.

He took his lips from hers and slowly worked his way down to her neck. While he kissed her neck, his hands had traveled up to the gold buttons of her light blue trench coat. He undid a few of the buttons just enough so he could kiss her bare chest.

Her moans got slightly louder as she felt his lips softly kiss her chest. His body was so close with hers, she could feel his hard erection rubbing against her lower waist. "Rick", she whispered softly.

His hands traveled back down her waist and began to slowly run his hands up her long green skirt. His hands had began to stroke her bare legs.

She felt his hands slowly making their way towards the inside of her bare thighs. Soon she felt her underwear slowly slipping from down her legs.

His lips traveled back up to her neck and softly began to kiss and suck on her neck. He had began to slowly undo his pants as he spoke to her softly. "I'll make everything go away."

She ran her hands up to his shoulders as she felt him spreading her legs apart and lifting her leg slightly off of the floor. When she wrapped her leg around him, she dug her fingertips into his shoulders and winced slightly as she felt him slowly beginning to place himself inside of her. Small gasps had escaped her as he placed himself deeper inside her.

While he began to slowly thrust himself in and out of her, he heard her calling out his name while she moaned in pleasure.

"Oh, Rick..."

With them both not knowing, the door to the room was slightly cracked. Lydia's heart raced as her eyes fell upon the two who were making love inside of the office. With her not being able to no longer watch, she quickly looked away and had her back against the hallway wall while she stood in the narrow hallway. Tears swelled in her eyes as she heard Amethyst's soft yet pleasurable moans through the small opening of the door. She placed her hand over her mouth in both disgust and heartbreak. She could no longer stand hearing them making love to each other and quickly stormed away from her office.

Meanwhile at The Royal Guardians headquarters, Nicole was sitting at the front desk typing on the computer until something had flew over and hit the desk spilling a paper cup that was full of cold coffee everywhere.

The coffee had spilled everywhere on the desk. It had even spilled onto Nicole.

The brown and black lynx sat there and couldn't believe what had just happened. While she was practically drenched in the coffee, she looked over and saw what appeared to be a football setting on the floor beside the desk. "...What the..." Her ears perked up when she had heard Dax's voice as he came rushing towards her.

When he ran over to her, he looked over at the other side of the lobby, "Ash! Your aim sucks, dude!"

The male yellow mongoose slowly yet casually walked over him. He scoffed under his breath lowly, "Yeah right. My aiming is perfect as always. After all, I am a weapon's expert."

Nicole's mouth hung open as she saw Dax picking the football up from the floor. "...Are you...serious?"

The white lemur rose an eyebrow towards Nicole's uprising anger. "What?"

She angrily stood from her chair and clenched her fists. "You...you're playing football? In the agency?"

Ash placed his hands in his pants pockets and turned to the angry lynx woman with a non caring look. "Well yeah? We're taking a break. You should chill with us."

She slammed her hands down onto the surface of the desk. "You must be kidding? Have you all lost your minds!"

"I completely agree", Antoine spoke as he stepped into the lobby with papers in his hand. He had then set the papers he held down onto a part of the desk that wasn't soaked in coffee. "You know the only reason they're acting like this is because Sally's gone."

Ash's eyes wandered over to Antoine in annoyance, "You're such a suck up, Antoine! That is not why we're doing this."

Antoine crossed his arms and rose an eyebrow towards the yellow mongoose. "Oh yeah? Because I can't recall a single day Sally allowed any of us to play football in the agency."

Nicole had began to get frustrated. She knew exactly what was happening. Antoine was right. The reason why everyone was acting so laid back was because Sally wasn't there and they knew she wouldn't be back for a long time. She had feared that since she was in charge, they could get away with practically anything. She angrily glared over at the group. "Look! Just because Sally's not here, it doesn't mean we can all do what we want! We all still have jobs to do you know?"

"Relax, Nicole", Dax had spoke. "We're still doing our jobs. But like Ash said, we're just taking a little break."

In horror, Nicole watched as Dax threw the football back over to Ash. When she saw Ash catch the football, she sunk back into her chair in frustration. She then felt Antoine place his hand on her shoulder. She slightly shifted her eyes over to him.

"Just another day in babysitting am I right, Captain Nicole?"

She gave him an annoyed look as he took his hand from her shoulder and had walked away from her. She sighed heavily and placed her hand on her forehead in stress. She muttered under her breath, "What the hell is happening?" She had then heard an incoming video call coming from the computer in front of her. When she had answered the call, an image of a male black jackal had appeared on the screen.

When he realized that it was Nicole who answered the call, a warm smile formed on his face. "Oh! Hey, Nicole!"

She had no idea the call had came from Luke. Her eyes shot open and her heart raced as she tried to quickly look somewhat presentable as she spoke with him. "Lucas!"

"Hey, baby girl. I just called to check to see how everything's gong over there." He arched an eyebrow towards her as he noticed that it appeared that she looked like something wet had spilled on her. "You are doing okay aren't you?"

She tried to casually but discreetly tried to wipe some of the coffee off of her. "Yes of course!"

"...What the hell is on you? You look kinda...wet? And no totally not trying to make this some kind of sexual joke."

She nervously pointed to her face, "Oh this? I just spilled some coffee on myself." She didn't want to tell him that she didn't have everything under control. What would it look like if she did? It would look bad on her end with her being a captain and having another member from a different team come in and help her control her teammates. And of course with the fact of him being her boyfriend. She didn't want to look completely helpless.

He had then made a long pause. Judging by her uneasiness, he had clearly knew that something was off.

She had then made a slight pause, "...It was cold coffee by the way." She was startled when the football had flew in her direction once again and had bounced off of the desk.

Luke didn't exactly see what it was but something did bounce off from the desk. "What the hell was that?"

"N-Nothing!"

He wasn't stupid. She was indeed hiding something from him. "Nicole, is everything okay? You need me to come over there?"

Just as she feared, Luke had wanted to check in on her and her team. But she refused to let him help her out with something like this going on. "N-No! Everything's fine, hunny. Really. I have everything under control."

He didn't believe her but he didn't want to push the issue with her about it. He crossed his arms, "Fine if you say so. Remember you're in charge. So don't be afraid to shove your foot up their asses."

She had the feeling that he knew that her teammates were getting out of hand. Especially when he had just told her to basically act as a leader. She gave him an uneasy smile, "Don't worry. I got this." She flinched and yelped as another football had hit the wall behind her. "Christ! There's two?"

The jackal arched an eyebrow as he saw something had hit the wall behind her as well. "What? Two what?"

"Nothing! I gotta go! I'll talk to you later! Love you!"

"Wha? Nicole!"

Nicole quickly ended the call and stood from the desk chair she had sat in. She angrily looked back at the group. "Can you guys be anymore obnoxious?"

The group stood there frozen until they heard a small explosion coming from inside of the garage. They all turned to the door of the garage as the door flung open. Thick black smoke came from the inside of the garage.

Rotor stepped out from the garage with him slightly coughing from the smoke.

The group turned to the purple walrus in both concern and confusion.

Rotor tried fanning some of the smoke away with his hand as he spoke. "Okay I've officially established that you never connect a red wire with a black wire."

Nicole stood there with her mouth hung open in disbelief of what was happening in front of her. 'Holy crap this is like daycare! How does Sally do this everyday?'

Meanwhile at the Chaotix, Espio and Rouge were talking with each other as they both walked into the lobby.

Rouge continued to speak with him as they both walked with each other. "And afterwards he always throws such a fit. Isn't that weird?"

The chameleon slightly shrugged his shoulders, "I couldn't tell ya, bat girl. I don't know much about babies." When he and Rouge walked into the lobby, they saw the group lazily sitting around and talking with each other. Espio angrily stared over at the laid back group of detectives. "Um, hello? What the hell is this? Why are you guys just sitting around?"

Tonya who was sitting at her desk had looked over to him and noticed his irritated attitude. "Sorry, hun. We're just taking a little break."

He arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You guys have been taking a break ever since Shadow left."

Appex who had lazily sat at another desk in the lobby had his feet propped up on the surface of the desk. "Relax, eyepatch. Things been slow lately anyway. Don't get so bent out of shape."

He couldn't help but to become even more slightly irritated. Ever since the incident with his left eye, he now had to look forward to everyone casually poking fun at the black eyepatch he had wore. He pointed towards himself, "I have every reason to be bent out of shape. Shadow's gonna be gone for God knows how long so that means shit's gonna fall back on me if shit isn't running smoothly."

Freya looked up at the chameleon as she sat on a black stool. "Come on, Captain Espio. Chill out a little. When's the last time things have been so calm around here?"

Midnight who stood next to her had agreed. "She's right. Don't get us wrong. We love Shad but he's always been well..."

He looked over to the black wolf in annoyance, "An actual boss?" He looked back at the group, "Yeah I know Shad can be hard on us sometimes but he's just doing his job by making sure we do ours." He then felt Rouge placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I hate to take sides but they are kind of right." She took her hand from his shoulder when she saw him turn to her. "I mean yeah it sucks he's gone, but this is a good opportunity for everyone to just take it easy for a change." She pointed towards him and made a small smile, "And that means you too, Captain Espio."

He had to admit that yes this was the first time in a long time that everyone could just relax and take it easy for a bit. He actually didn't see the harm of any of this at all. "Well...I guess you're right. Just because he's gone, it's not like it'll be the end of Mobius or anything."

A warm smile formed on her face. "There you go! There's the Espio we're all looking for!"

The group had then turned to the entrance when they heard the doors opening. They all turned to a gray dove woman with long blonde hair that slightly passed her waist. She wore a white and blue coat, a green t shirt underneath, blue fitted pants, red and white shoes, and white gloves. She also had appeared to be pregnant. Her light blue eyes scanned the lobby that was full of confused detectives who looked back at her. "Oh? Is...this the Chaotix Detective Agency?"

With an unsure look, Espio had answered her. "...Uh, yeah?" He had then heard a male voice shouting from outside the door behind the woman.

"Grace!"

The dove woman looked behind her and saw a male yellow and black bee make his way inside and stood beside her.

A sweat drop formed on the side of his head as he turned to her. "How did you get so fast? Did you power walk or what?"

When the group laid their eyes on the male bee, their eyes lit up in excitement. "Wha? Charmy?"

The bee turned to the group of detectives and formed a wide smile towards them. He held up his hand as he waved towards the group. "Guys! Hey! Hey! Guess who's back?" He then watched as the group happily rushed over to him.

Espio playfully ruffled his hand through his black and yellow hair. "Charmy! Good to see you, buddy!"

Freya had an excited look on her face, "I can't believe you're back!"

"How have you been?" Tonya had asked.

Ker glanced up and down at the woman who stood beside him. "And who's your friend?"

"Oh!" The bee turned to the woman who stood next to him and turned back to the group with a smile. "Everyone I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Grace."

"Oh that's right!" Midnight had exclaimed. "You did mention a Grace before the last time you were here."

Charmy made a nod until he felt Espio rest his hand on his shoulder.

A worried look had then appeared on Espio's face, "Not that we're not happy to see you or anything but what brings you back to Tech City all of a sudden?"

A serious look had then formed on the bee's face as he looked back at the group of detectives. "It's getting worse. The demons...they must be stopped! So I've come back and help you fight!"

The group stood there in worry as they all had feared something horrible had either happened or was going to happen.

 **Author's Note: And it begins! All week long expect updates for this story! It feels great knowing you guys are enjoying the story so far! Thank you for your support! More awesomeness is on the way so stay tuned! See you on the flip side!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Hao: You think you can stop me?**

 **Elias: You will not prevail!**

 **Sally: There's too many!**

 **Tails: Say hello to the dream team!**

 **Amy: Let's turn these metalheads into scrap!**

 **Blaze: What a nuisance...**

 **Mighty: This is crazy!**

 **Silver: Freedom Fighters! Let's go!**

 **Shadow: Wait...the Freedom...what?**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

In Kingdom of Acorn, Shadow, Sally, and Elias rushed into Knothole Village finding a few of the buildings completely destroyed and the villagers fleeing away from where the attacks were taking place.

Sally's eyes glanced around the destroyed buildings of the village. "This is bad..."

Shadow shifted his eyes over to her in annoyance. "Yeah? No shit."

Elias had pointed up at who was standing on top of the roof of a house. "There!"

"That's right! Trash everything!" A male voice had shouted while he had his back turned to them while he looked down at multiple silver robots who were destroying the village.

The silver robots were about their height. They all had long slim facial structures with a circular black lens for the eye, sharp metal wing like features on their backs, and metal claw like features for hands.

Elias angrily shouted out towards him. "Hao!" When he saw him slowly turn to him, his angry eyes had fixed upon a male light blue wolf with white spiky hair.

The wolf wore a white lab coat that stopped to his ankles, a black t shirt, red fitted pants, black knee high boots, black gloves and wore silver goggles on his head. His gray eyes shifted over to Elias in annoyance. "Well, well if it isn't Prince Elias here to save the day!" His eyes widened as they fell upon a familiar black and red male hedgehog who had stood next to him. "What the? Shadow? Here?" He clenched his fists and angrily stomped his foot down. "Come the fuck on! If I can't have Tech City, I can't have anything can I?"

The hedgehog crossed his arms as he coldly glared at him, "You're gonna pay for the damage you've done here, Hao."

Sally pointed towards the wolf. "We're gonna take you down and bring you to justice!"

While he angrily glared down at the group, one of the robots that was destroying the village had hovered next to him with the use of its built in jet pack in its back. "I won't let you interfere! I'll kill you and rule this kingdom with my army of robots!" He raised his hand in the air and snapped his fingers before he pointed towards them. "Kill them!"

When Elias saw the robot coming towards them, he removed his sword from his sheath and drew it in the air. As he saw the robot coming towards him, he took his sword and used the blade to slice its left arm easily and completely off.

Even with the robot now having one arm, it didn't stop it from using its right arm. It turned to Sally while its entire right arm had transformed to form what it appeared to be some type of laser cannon. While it charged its cannon, it was struck from the back from a powerful attack.

"Chaos Spear!"

The robot was then knocked back at a far distance from the attack.

Elias' mouth hung open as he stared mindless at the glowing yellow aurora around Shadow's hands. "Amazing...", he spoke under his breath. He figured his strange powers were from the fact that he was a half demon.

Sally flashed her eyes over to the hedgehog, "I didn't ask for your permission to help me, half demon."

Shadow had given her the same irritated look in return. "Not exactly a thank you but I guess I'll take it."

Elias had made a nervous look as the two began to argue, "Come on, guys. Not the time."

Shadow looked back over to Elias while he noticed the robot slowly standing back up. "Elias!"

He had then took his attention away from Shadow and Sally and turned back to the robot. "Oh! Right!" He gripped the handle of his sword tightly and ran over to the robot. He used the blade of his sword to slice the robot's right arm off. He then finished it off by slicing its head clear from its body.

After Hao witnessed them destroying the robot, more of the robots had hovered around him. He gritted his teeth angrily towards them. "Impressive but you won't win against my army!"

They all looked at more of the robots that had surrounded them. They then saw them all land on the ground and surround them.

Elias studied the robots that had them surrounded. "There's so many..."

Sally took a step back, "We can't take them all on."

"Wanna bet?" A male voice had suddenly spoken.

The group had then saw one of the robots hovering in mid air and then being thrown into what was left of an already destroyed building.

Shadow had watched as the robot was easily defeated. "What was that?" He, Sally, and Elias had then laid their eyes upon a male white hedgehog who's fur had almost appeared silver.

The white hedgehog shifted his yellow eyes over at them and gave them a friendly look. He had wore a light blue short sleeve jacket, a red sleeveless shirt underneath, blue skinny jeans, white gloves with gold cuffs on the wrists, and dark blue knee high boots with gold cuffs around the ankles. He formed a smirk towards them. "Need assistance?"

Sally's eyes lit up in relief at the sight of him. "Silver!"

The white hedgehog held his hand up towards on of the robots and watched as it hovered into the air until an orange fiery aurora had sliced through it and cut its body in two.

They all watched as a female purple cat with purple hair had landed onto the ground and stood beside Silver.

Her yellow eyes looked towards the group, "Looks like we showed up just in time." She wore a long purple tailcoat, black leggings, red high heeled shoes, had her hair tied in a red hair tie, white gloves with fuzzy cuffs, and a gold necklace around her neck.

Elias smiled warmly at the purple cat woman. "Blaze!" He and the rest of the group had saw the robots being flung in the air side by side. When the path had been cleared from the robots, they all laid their eyes upon a strange dark blue and yellow machine that had stood on two legs. They stared at the male orange fox who was piloting the strange machine.

The fox held his hand up as he greeted the group. "Say hello to the dream team!" The orange fox had two tails and had wore a white hoodie that was zipped up, blue shorts, white gloves, white and red shoes, and silver goggles were worn on the top of his head.

Beside him were two other figures. One was a female pink hedgehog who sat on the right side of the machine. She smirked as she slightly swung around a giant red and yellow hammer that she had held in her hand. She had pink hair that stopped at her shoulders. She wore a red sleeveless mini dress, red knee high boots, white gloves with gold bracelets on the cuffs, and a red hairband on her head. She slightly turned to the orange fix who she had sat beside. "Tails, I think you try way too hard when it comes to making an entrance."

"Come on, Amy", a male black armadillo had spoke while he sat on the opposite side of the machine. He wore a dark blue jacket with a white t shirt underneath, blue fitted jeans, brown boots with red straps on them, and gray fingerless gloves. "We got work to do!"

"And Mighty too?" Sally spoke in happiness.

Shadow turned to Sally and Elias in confusion as they had clearly knew who the strange group of people were who were helping them. "Who are these guys?"

Silver made a smirk as he stood beside the group who had come to help. "We're the Freedom Fighters!"

While Sally and Elias looked at the group in excitement, Shadow had rose an eyebrow towards them. "...The Freedom...what?"

Hao began to get uneasy and slowly backed away as he saw the group coming in to help. "Shit", he swore under his breath. "Not these obnoxious clowns again."

Silver pointed at the group of robots that stood in front of them. "Freedom Fighters, let's go!"

On Silver's command, Amy jumped off from the the side of the machine Tails was piloting and used her hammer to sling at the robots knocking them in every direction and crushing their bodies.

Mighty clenched his fists tightly and struck the robots with powerful punches. The punches were strong enough to penetrate through their metal bodies.

With a fire like aurora coming from her hands, Blaze directed her hands toward the robots and attacked them with a fire like blast.

Tails who was piloting the machine he was in, had fired lasers towards the robots slicing them apart.

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Hao's head as he witnessed his robot army size quickly downsizing. He slowly backed away until he stood next to another one of his robots. "This...isn't good." He then clung onto the back of the robot as it hovered. "I...gotta figure this shit out."

While they were all fighting the robots, they didn't realize that Hao had gotten away.

When Shadow saw the group confronting what was left of the robot army, he stood in front of them. "Everyone stand back! This ends now."

They all didn't understand what was happening, but they did as he said. They all watched in amazement as a red aurora had surrounded his hands.

He had raised both of his hands towards the group of robots that had confronted him. "Chaos Blast!"

The group watched as a powerful red energy had blasted at the robots. Afterwards, there was nothing left but pieces of metal from the robots that were scattered all over the ground.

Silver and the rest of the group stood there with their mouths hung open from Shadow's sudden powerful attack. "Amazing..."

With admiration in her eyes, Amy felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from the black and red hedgehog. She clasped her hands together and gave the hedgehog a starry eyed look. "I'll say! And handsome too!"

Mighty lazily shifted his eyes over to the pink hedgehog and slightly sighed. "Here we go again..."

Tails arched an eyebrow, "If he could do all that, why didn't he do that at first?"

Elias had then watched as Shadow fell to his knees in exhaustion. He ran over to him in worry. "Sha-Shadow!" He had helped him to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah", he spoke in a weak tone. "That attack just always takes a lot out of me."

Tails looked around to be sure that all of the robots were destroyed, "Well at least all of the robots are destroyed."

Blaze had glanced around them and saw no sight of Hao anywhere. "Yeah but Hao got away...again."

Silver clenched his fist tightly, "Well if he ever decides to show his face again, we'll be ready."

The group nodded in agreement until they heard the many cheers of the villagers who had happily surrounded them.

"You saved us from Hao's robots!" A woman had shouted happily.

"Go Freedom Fighters!" A man had cheered.

The group shook the villagers' hands as they all had praised them for their fight against Hao and his robots.

Shadow glanced looked over to Elias and Sally who were being thanked from a few of the villagers.

"Princess! You've returned to save us!"

"Bless you, Princess Sally!"

"We love you!"

Shadow couldn't take his eyes away Sally while she was being praised by the villagers. He thought maybe it was just him, but he saw nothing but guilt and sadness behind her uneasy smile.

Later on that evening, everyone was gathered at the castle in the large dining room. They were all gathered around the large, long, brown table that was full of food and drinks.

Elias who was at the end of the table stood from his chair and raised his glass that was full of wine. "I'd like to propose a toast to today's victory! Thank you! All of you! This wouldn't be possible without all of your help. Cheers to many more victories!"

Everyone stood from their chairs and raised their glasses as well. "Here! Here!"

Once they all sat back down, Blaze had raised her glass once again, "And to new friends and allies."

Everyone had again agreed with each other.

The pink hedgehog who sat next to Shadow had slightly leaned over to him and stared at him in interest. "Tall, dark, and handsome allies too."

With unease, Shadow slightly slid his chair away from the pink hedgehog who was constantly staring at him.

Tails who sat across the table had spoke while he ate a piece of his apple. "Geez, Amy. You're like some horny schoolgirl."

In disgust, Sally who sat across from the two had turned her head. "Trust me. You don't want anything to do with that guy." She had then took a sip from her glass of wine.

When Shadow saw Amy practically leaning against him, he once again nervously slid his chair from her. "And I'm married!"

The pink hedgehog's mouth dropped in shock. "What! No way!" She then angrily slammed her fists down onto the table. "Why are all the good looking guys taken?"

Mighty had chuckled from observing Amy's reaction. "Maybe to try to avoid you?"

Amy flashed her eyes over to Mighty in annoyance. "I'm warning you, Mighty!"

Elias nervously raised his hands as he wanted to calm down, "Now, now..."

Sally placed down her glass of wine and crossed her arms, "I know. I don't get it either." Her eyes flashed over to the black and red hedgehog who sat across from her. "It's quite unheard of really. A half demon helping mortals? Trying to actually save lives? Am I the only one in the room that doesn't trust him?"

Silver, Blaze, Tails, Amy, and Mighty all gave each other blank looks. They were all thrown into confusion. Shadow was some kind of demon? What was Sally saying?

Elias knew that Silver and the rest of the Freedom Fighters were all not yet aware of what Shadow actually was. However he didn't want them to think that he was actually dangerous to be around. He nervously looked over to Sally. "Sally..."

The chipmunk stood from her chair and pointed towards the black and red hedgehog. "You may have everyone else fooled! But not me! You will always be an outcast! You will always be hated! Demon scum!"

Elias stood from his chair and turned to Sally angrily. "That's enough, Sally!"

The room was dead quiet until Shadow slowly stood from his chair and locked his eyes with hers as he slammed his hands down onto the surface of the table. "You know I don't think I'll ever understand why the people of this kingdom love and adore you so much. Not when you have so much hatred inside of you."

With her speechless, she watched as he coldly turned away from her and began to walk out of the room.

The group awkwardly looked at each other until Amy sprang up from her chair.

She angrily turned to Sally. "Now you've done it, Sally! You hurt his feelings!" She then ran out of the room to follow after Shadow. "Shadow! Wait up! I don't care if you're a demon! You're a hot demon!"

They then all heard Shadow's loud voice carry from down the hall when Amy had apparently caught up to him.

"Amy! I swear to God, girl!"

Afterwards Blaze turned to Silver in confusion. "Um...what the hell was that?"

The white hedgehog gave her a blank look and shrugged his shoulders.

Elias stormed over to Sally and tapped her on her shoulder while he had whispered harshly in her ear. "Sally? A word please."

Elias had then led Sally out of the dining room and talked to her out in the hallway outside of the room.

Sally leaned her back against the wall with her arms crossed and head turned away from him.

Elias pointed towards her angrily, "You know just because you two don't exactly get a long, it doesn't mean you can come at him like that and in front of everyone!"

She still didn't turn to him as he yelled at her.

"I don't understand why you exactly hate him anyway. I think he's a great guy. I've talked to him a bit and he's told me he's done so much and worked so hard to get where he is now."

She turned to him in aggravation, "Elias! He's an abomination! Once our backs are turned, he'll kill us! Why doesn't anyone else see that? Sarah, the Council, you! You all look at him like he's some hero!"

"What he did today, he is a hero!"

"He's a monster!" She gasped and flinched as she felt Elias grab her wrist and made her look towards him.

"What is this? You are not the Sally I've known all my life! Where is all this hate and anger coming from? Ever since mom died..." He then felt her snatch her wrist from his grip and angrily spun her back to him.

"Don't..." she spoke in a low and angry tone. "Don't bring her into this..."

Elias slightly sighed and rubbed the side of his forehead in frustration. "...Sally, things would be so much easier if you just gave him and yourself a chance." He slowly spun around to turn away from her. "Just...open your heart..."

Her eyes widened by his words. She slowly placed her hand on her chest and turned back to him only to see him storming away from her in disappointment.

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Luke: Good morning, Chaotix crew!**

 **Espio:...Luke?**

 **Rouge: Ah right on time!**

 **Espio: What the hell is going on here?**

 **Scourge: You're messy...**

 **Fiona: Who knew this could be so much fun!**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

It was the next morning in Tech City at the Chaotix headquarters. Everyone was in the lobby talking and catching up with Charmy and Grace.

Tonya rested her elbows on the surface of her desk and leaned over while she gave Charmy and Grace an excited look. "It's so good to have you back in Tech City, Charmy."

"Yeah", Ker added while he leaned his back against the wall and had his arms crossed. "Shadow's gonna be so thrilled to have you back with us."

Th male bee made a nod and smiled widely. "You bet! It sucks he's not here though." He looked over to Espio who was sitting beside Tonya at her desk. "Where'd you say he went again?"

"Acorn Kingdom", Espio had answered.

Grace turned to Charmy while she had sat in a wooden chair against the wall near him. "That sounds so far away."

"Yeah", Charmy agreed. "I never heard of a place like that. Almost sounds like some fantasy land."

Appex lazily leaned against Tonya's desk. "Apparently one of the Council members is some kind of a princess of this place so..."

Just hearing the words 'kingdom' and 'princess' couldn't help but to trigger old memories of him and the Chaotix years ago. "Hmm...interesting..."

"So", Midnight turned to Charmy while he sat in a desk chair in the far corner of the room. "What did make you decide to come back?"

Charmy looked back at the group and began to explain. "Grace and I've been watching the news and all they ever talk about are monster attacks. They're talking about the Almas. I know you guys can take care of yourselves but I still worry." He couldn't help but to have a bad feeling that if he didn't come back to Tech City, something horrible would have happened. Even if there was nothing he could do, he wanted to be by their side like he always had been.

Appex arched an eyebrow, "Other than a few attacks here and there, it's actually surprisingly quiet over here. Nothing major. Like The Dark Alliance status."

Tonya placed a finger to her chin, "Yeah the last major thing we heard from them is about the whole Scourge situation."

Charmy made a nod, "Shadow told me something about that in an e-mail." He still couldn't believe that another detective member had turned against not only his team but the entire Council as well. All for the life of a demon. He turned to Espio, "That's pretty crazy. And he was a weapon specialist too."

The chameleon made a small nod, "Not too long ago, another team by the name of The Radiant Guard also had a runaway weapon specialist."

Charmy couldn't believe it. Another weapon specialist had ran off as well? What was happening with all of the teams exactly? He arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "What?"

Espio had continued, "Her name is Fiona. There's been no sign of her as of yet. As of right now, everybody is speculating that maybe her going missing has something to do with Scourge."

"Like...he killed her?"

He continued to explain. "...Her backup weapons at the agency and even her apartment are missing and she was the only one to access everything due to her status."

Charmy's heart raced as he thought of the worst possible thought. "She..."

Espio had made a slow nod, "And with her having an apparent history with Scourge, it's possible that her going missing was no accident..."

Grace had made a small gasp. "Are you trying to say she's some kind of traitor?"

"Like I said, no one is certain what happened but at this point, it's very likely." Even though he knew nothing of Scourge or Fiona, he wanted to automatically assume that Fiona had indeed turned for the worst.

While Charmy and the rest of the group were deep in thought, the doors had suddenly opened at the entrance of the lobby. They all spun around to a male black jackal stepping into the lobby.

He stood at the entrance of the lobby and confronted the group of confused detectives. He formed a small yet friendly smile while he held his hand up towards them. "Why hello! And good morning, Chaotix crew!"

Espio arched and eyebrow towards the jackal. "Luke?" It wasn't often that Luke would come to Tech City and to visit the Chaotix. He just knew something was wrong.

Charmy looked over to Espio in confusion as he didn't know who the strange black jackal was. "Huh?"

Espio had to remember that Charmy didn't know any of the leaders or any other team members for that matter. He started to introduce him as he walked over to him and the rest of the group, "This is Luke. He's on the Detective Council and leader of The Black Shield detectives over in Industrial City."

"Oh!" He spun around to the black jackal, "I can't believe I forgot there was a detective team over in Industrial City as well." He extended his hand out towards the jackal, "Nice to meet you!"

With a slightly confused look on his face, Luke had slowly shook the male bee's hand. "Likewise...um?"

"Charmy", he answered proudly. "Charmy Bee! I'm the Chaotix's old mech specialist!"

"Old mech specialist?" He slightly glanced around the lobby and didn't see any sight of Freya anywhere. "What happened to Freya?"

"Oh she'll be in later on", Midnight answered. "She said she had something she had to do before she came in today."

"...Two mech specialists huh?" The slight confused look that was on his face had then turned into an obvious one. He placed his finger to his chin, "Oh that's right! Shadow did mention that he had another active mech specialist." He looked back over to Charmy, "I guess you're the guy."

The bee nodded and smiled widely, "Yup!"

Espio turned to Luke with a confused look on his face as well. "So uh, not that we're not happy to see you but what brings you all the way to Tech City all of a sudden? Sarah didn't call for a meeting or anything did she?"

He slightly shook his head, "Oh, no. Nothing like that." He started to glance around the lobby, "I'm actually here because..."

"Ah, Luke! Glad you could make it", Rouge had spoke as she walked from the backroom and approached him with a warm smile.

Luke had spun around and caught sight of the white bat woman making her way towards him. "Oh, Rouge. There you are."

Espio's eyes glanced back and forth between Luke and Rouge as they happily confronted each other. "...Um? What's going on here?"

Luke turned to him and began to explain, "Well since me and my team is out of a weapon specialist, Rouge kindly offered to look over my weapon for me." He looked over to her with a warm smile, "After all, the Council's said nothing but great things about your work."

She couldn't help but to form a small blush on her face. Even though she knew she was a good weapon's expert, it never got old hearing nice compliments especially from other team members. "Oh go on!"

Espio even had to agree that Rouge was the best there was when it came to all different types of weapons. "Well if you're looking for a good weapon's expert, Rouge is your girl."

Rouge made a nod and placed her hands on her hips as she directed her attention to Luke. "All right! Let's see what you got!"

"Right", Luke glanced down at the black gun holster that was around his right leg. He wrapped his hand around the handle of the gun and slowly took it out of the holster.

Rouge's mouth dropped as she saw him holding a decent size silver gun with a long barrel on it. By the looks of the gun, it had clearly been modified. "Wha? Is...is that a hand cannon?"

"Yup", he slowly placed the gun in her hands. "Now as you've already guessed, it's been customized once or twice so be careful."

Rouge analyzed the gun carefully as she held it in her hands. She noticed that the gun felt really heavy as she held it. As she glanced at the details of it, it appeared it had a few small latches and triggers on it. It didn't take her long enough to figure out that the gun could do so much more than firing powerful rounds. "Wow your weapon appears to be in great shape." She looked back at him, "This is probably gonna be a dumb question but Scourge...did he..."

He made a small nod, "He didn't actually build it from scratch but he did throw in some modifications here and there. I just wanted you to make sure it was up to par."

Appex observed the gun from where he was standing and he was even impressed by how powerful the gun had appeared. "I don't know. That thing looks pretty legit to me." He looked back at Luke. "Why suddenly the reassurance on it? Have you been having problems with it or..."

"No not at all", he then looked back at the gun while Rouge held it in her hands. "Just preparing..."

Ker slightly shrugged his shoulders. "Preparing?"

He slightly turned away from the group of detectives and crossed his arms as he stared outside of the windows of the agency. "Like they say, always calm before the storm..."

Meanwhile Freya and Risa stood outside of a coffee shop while they were both talking to each other.

"Thanks for getting together and having coffee with me, Freya", Risa spoke with a wide smile.

"Hey it's no problem. Sorry my schedule's been a little hectic lately", she spoke while she nervously scratched the back of her head. It had been a little harder for her to see Risa with her just getting out of college, work, and other personal things.

"Hey don't worry about it. I've been a little busy myself lately."

"Wha? Really? What've you been up to?"

Risa placed her hands on her hips. "I thought I told you? I've been babysitting for my next door neighbors, Ann and Joe."

"...Ann and Joe?" She placed her fist in the palm of her hand as she suddenly remembered their names. "Oh that's right! They moved into that house next to yours last year!"

She smiled and made a nod, "Yup! I've been helping them out a lot lately by looking after their baby son, Declan."

She placed her hands on her hips and gave her a teasing look. "I didn't know you liked babies, Risa." She knew she had liked babies but of course she had to tease her every now and again.

"Wha? Of course I like babies! I wanted to babysit Spike but your emo d bag of a boss keeps telling me no!"

She crossed her arms and gave her an uneasy look, "The boss and Miss Rouge already have designated babysitters."

She had then made an annoyed look, "Yeah, yeah. The witch and her thousand year old lover." She already knew that Shadow and Rouge had allowed Nails and Tikal to look after Spike whenever the both of them were busy.

She giggled under her breath, "I'm pretty sure you don't want to take them two on for babysitting rights."

"Heh, no it's cool. My life's too hectic right now for two babies anyway." She looked down at the watch on her wrist and then looked up at Freya, "Sorry Freya, I gotta go." She waved towards her as she started to run off, "I'll see you later!"

She had waved back at her as she saw her running off in the opposite direction. "Bye, Risa!" While she waved, her eyes caught sight of the time from her watch that was around her wrist. Her eyes slightly widened, "Aw geez! I guess I should get going too." She had then started to run off and make her way towards the Chaotix.

Later on that evening inside of a small home within Tech City, the dark and dim house was quiet and the only thing heard was the static from the television and a gushing sound that sounded like something was biting into something.

While standing in the middle of the living room, Scourge had stared at the television that had nothing on but static. With his sunglasses on, he mindless stared at the static on the television screen. The television and the stand it was set on had blood splattered on the sides of it. There was also blood splattered all over the walls and floor of the living room. There was also a trail of blood that led into the next room. He slightly turned his head without taking his eyes away from the television screen. "You're messy...you know that?"

The female red fox slowly made her way out of the bedroom she was in and stepped into the living room. Blood dripped from her hands that was covered in it as she lazily leaned against the doorway. An evil smirk had formed around her bloodstain mouth as her red eyes fell upon the back of the green hedgehog who had stared at the screen of the television. "What are you saying? I thought all demons were this messy with their meals?"

"Not as messy as you, babe." He had suddenly felt her laying her arms on his shoulders and pressed the front of her body against his back.

She nuzzled her bloodstained face against the back of his black leather jacket. A deep and low chuckle had escaped her.

"What?"

"You smell like cigarettes." She slowly traveled her hands around his chest. "And it's sexy."

He then turned to face her and suddenly grabbed her wrist. He then playfully pushed her body down onto the sofa that was behind them. While still having her wrist in his grip. he leaned his forehead against hers. "Sounds like someone's fucking horny", he spoke in a low tone. "Killing people...that turns you on huh?"

Her red eyes stared at the dark black lenses of the sunglasses he had wore. The same sadistic smile had remained on her face. "Only when you're watching."

He slowly eased his grip away from her wrist and rested his hand down on the sofa beside her. "Did you save me any leftovers?"

Her eyes glanced over to the room she had walked out of and then back at him. "There was two of them. But yeah, hun. Of course I saved you some dinner."

His fangs flashed within his evil smirk, "Good." He then stood from the sofa and pulled her body off from the sofa as well. He grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her body into his. He then wrapped his arms around her waist lovingly. "And maybe afterwards I can have a little desert", he spoke in a low and seductive tone.

She watched as he leaned towards her even more until his lips were pressed against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck while she deepened their kiss.

As his tongue played with hers, he could taste some of the blood from the inside of her mouth.

She slowly pulled away from him when she felt him playfully smack her butt. She giggled in a low tone and gently tugged on the collar of his red shirt. "Fuck me, baby", she whispered in a seductive tone.

"You don't have to beg me, babe." He had then suddenly picked her body off from the floor and held her in his arms while she giggled softly. "It's always a pleasure to bang the hell out of you", he spoke in a sensual tone before he escorted her to the bedroom that was practically covered in blood along with two half eaten corpses laying in puddles of blood on the floor.

 **Author's Note: Looks like Fiona's grasping ahold of her new demonic powers. She adjusted to the life of a demon pretty quickly I'd say. Anywho I wanted to thank you guys for all of your awesome reviews and PMs. And to answer your questions, yes Blaze and Silver are dating and Sonic will make an appearance very soon. Next chapter to be precise. So look forward to the next chapter being posted really soon! Also, sorry this chapter's a little short. Next chapter will be longer I promise. See you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Shadow: Great. You're gonna be a bitch to me here too I assume?**

 **Sally: You must have been so lonely...**

 **Shadow:...What?**

 **Sally: Cursed to walk this world as an immortal monster...**

 **Shadow: ...Sally?**

 **Sally: I've been so cruel...**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

With her long wavy red hair gently fluttering in the wind, Sally stood in the middle of a large open field that was full of white beautiful flowers. The white flowers were so bright, it almost appeared that they were glowing. She slightly sniffed the clean and crisp morning air and gently placed her hand on her chest. Her heart raced as her sapphire eyes fell upon the figure who sat under the large and only tree within the field of flowers. She found it hard to swallow as she tried to force herself to start walking towards the tree. 'God damn it..'

Under the large and shady tree, Shadow sat there with a content look on his face while he had read a dark red and older looking book. His ears had perked up when he suddenly heard the footsteps of something stepping slowly through the field of flowers. He took his eyes away from the book and looked up at a female brown chipmunk who was slowly approaching him. He arched an eyebrow as he studied her while she walked towards him.

She wasn't wearing her usual work outfit. She wore a long and beautiful white dress. The straps of it were slid down slightly past her shoulders, and there were light blue frilly like ruffles on the ends of the dress. She wore white flat shoes that even matched her dress.

With her hair and dress fluttering majestically in the wind, he couldn't help but to stare. He had never pictured Sally looking anything close to royalty, but there she was. She had looked exactly like an actual princess.

When she had stood before him, there was nothing heard but the rustling of the tree leaves that blew in the wind above them.

Shadow had placed the open book that he was reading down on his lap and decided to break the silence between them. He held his hand out in a confusing gesture. "Okay. I'm gonna say it. What up with the dress?"

She frowned and narrowed her eyes over at him. Like she figured. He didn't say anything positive about how differently she was dressed. "...Well good morning to you too." She placed her hand on her dress and glanced down at it. "And since I've returned to my kingdom, I thought I should start dressing and acting more like a princess."

He slightly laughed under his breath and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, "Heh, Elias made you put on the dress huh?"

A slight blush formed on her face, "He said my usual attire wasn't very suitable for my standards."

"Skinny jeans, boots, a gun holster strapped to your leg, and a slutty top wasn't in the princess dress code I take it?"

She had to bite her tongue and bite it hard. She had to be prepared for every negative comment he was going to throw at her especially since their last encounter with each other. "Where were you this morning anyway?"

In confusion and slightly shocked, Shadow watched as she walked over to him and sat next to him. He didn't understand what had gotten into her. She was wearing a dress? She hasn't insulted him since she ran into him? What the hell had gotten into her all of a sudden?

Once she sat next to him, she turned to the confused hedgehog. "I've been looking for you everywhere within the castle. But then Elias told me you went out to explore the kingdom. Never thought I'd find you here."

He then slightly shifted his eyes from her, "I was actually trying to get away from that Amy girl." He turned back to her, "That crazy chick's been following me everywhere."

A small giggle had escaped her, "Looks like you have quite the fan girl."

He then remembered what had happened after he and Sally had that intense argument with each other last night. After he stormed out, Amy had caught up with him and tried to talk and comfort him. He understood what she was trying to do but it wouldn't had been so bad if she didn't make it super obvious she had a crush on him. A disgusted look had formed on his face, "Yeah right."

Sally had then looked back out into the field of flowers, "This place is just as beautiful as I remembered it to be."

He had to agree with her. The field full of flowers was peaceful. It almost felt like there was some kind of mystical essence coming from the flowers. "It is very quiet and calming here."

She watched as the flowers gently blew within the calm breeze. "This place is called The Field of Mylaria." She looked back over to him, "I used to come here a lot when I wanted to be alone."

He looked back at her, "I guess we both had the same idea huh?"

"Um, yeah", she then shifted her eyes away from him. "Uh, Shadow? I'm actually glad I found you here."

He had then given her an annoyed look. "Why? So you can be a bitch to me here too?"

It was no surprise that he was still angry and acted hostile towards her. She had actually wanted to apologize to him for how she acted out towards him last night. She hated to admit it but Elias' words had cut her deep. She had to try to stop being such a hateful person. And what better way to start than to break the ice with Shadow? But she didn't know exactly where to begin. "What? No I..." She placed her hand on her forehead in frustration, "Ugh this is so hard..."

"...Huh?"

She took her hand from her forehead and looked back out at the field of flowers. She decided to try to ease the tension between them by creating a casual conversation. "...Earlier you said this place was familiar to you. Why is that?"

He turned from her and looked out into the field as well. "...Before I became a leader, before I became a Captain, I worked for the Chaotix as a field mission specialist and during that time something happened..."

She slowly turned back to him as she gave him her full attention.

"Rouge was never the only guns girl who worked for the Chaotix. There was another. Her name was Faye."

She slightly arched an eyebrow. She couldn't have helped to hear her name some time before.

"She and I...we weren't just partners. She was my first love. And later we all found out she was a princess of a kingdom called Alaskstar Kingdom."

She slowly placed her hand on her bare chest. As she thought about it, this was beginning to become very strange. His first lover was a weapon specialist? And she was a princess?

He continued, "We were all sent to her kingdom to help fight an evil witch by the name of Arachnikina. We fought to the end to protect her kingdom but..."

She saw the sudden saddened look on his face. "...But?"

His eyes looked down at the open book that was still set in his lap. "Faye didn't make it..."

She placed a hand to her mouth, "Oh God...", she spoke in a low and soft tone.

He slightly shook his head, "She was an amazing fighter and princess. She cared so much for her kingdom, she sacrificed herself to save everyone..."

She now understood why he had looked so saddened and disturbed by his first glance of her kingdom. She imagined that he was reliving his mission back in Alaskstar Kingdom. "I...had no idea..."

He looked away from the book and turned back to her with a faint smile on his face. "But hey that was like ages ago. No use getting upset over what happened years ago." He then took the book off from his lap and glanced through the pages once again.

While he was reading, Sally couldn't help but to sadly stare at him. 'My God', she thought. 'After all this time, even though he's trying not to show it, he's been so hurt...' When she saw him turning another page of the book, her eyes traveled down to his wrist that was slightly exposed from the sleeve of his red shirt that was rolled up slightly past his wrist. Her eyes widened and heart raced as she saw strange markings on his wrist. They appeared to have been multiple old cuts.

Before he could turn another page of the book, he felt his wrist suddenly being grabbed. He turned to Sally who had held his wrist in her hands. He had given her an annoyed look. "What the hell is your deal?" As he studied her face, it had seemed that she was upset while she stared at his wrist.

"How awful..." She gently pushed more of his sleeve upwards revealing more cut marks that was on the inside of his arm.

As he looked at her, he watched as tears swelled in her eyes. "Wha? What the hell? Sally?"

She fought hard to fight back her tears. "You've lost so much..." She turned to face him, "You must have been so lonely having to live the cursed life of immortality..."

He saw her face slightly getting closer to his. "...Sally..."

"Even though you're only half demon, you're aging but slowly. God if we just met, I would have to say you didn't look a day over twenty."

A faint blush had formed on his face. "For God's sake I don't look that young do I?" He knew that he physically looked in his early twenties but in reality he was supposed to be in his mid thirties.

She had then looked back down at his wrist, "I can just imagine how you're feeling. When everyone you love is good and gone, you'll still be here left to walk this world alone."

"Christ, Sally. I know this already. You don't have to reiterate this to me."

She turned back to him, "And this doesn't bother you? You never thought about the future at all?"

"What? Of course I have. I mean yeah it sucks to live practically forever. But I just convinced myself to live in the moment you know? Hold everything I have dear to me and protect what I have for as long as I can. I can't be sad about something that hasn't really happened yet...right?"

He did make a point. Everyone he had cared for was still in his life. Why should he have to dwell on something that has yet to happen? She made a small nod and glanced back down at the cuts on his wrist, "...I know I wasn't the only one but...all these years I thought of you nothing more than a monster. But I've realized now that you a soul and a heart that beats just as everyone else." She took her thumb and lightly caressed across the cuts on his wrist. A tear had then fell onto his wrist. "I hurt you so much, Shadow. And God I am so sorry..."

Great. Now she was crying. What was this? What the hell was happening? Did she just feel sorry for him? He sighed heavily and took his wrist from her grip while rolling his sleeve back over the exposed cuts. "Don't be stupid. Not gonna lie. I have some mental issues but most of the fucked up shit I did to myself was ages ago."

She slowly shook her head while looking down onto the ground. She attempted to wipe the tears from her face. "It's kind of funny. Almost every chance I had, I got in your face and told you to kill yourself and you've probably been doing that behind my back. God I was so cruel to you..."

"God damn it, Sally. I mean yeah your words don't exactly hurt but over the years, shit like that doesn't phase me anymore." He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "And you know this because of how easily I brush off your bullshit." He held his wrist up to her, "and I promise you none of this was caused from your big stupid mouth."

She leaned her back against the tree and looked up at the leaves that were rustling in the wind. "But I did hurt you and resented you for being a demon. Which was wrong of me to do to you especially when you've done nothing but try to make peace with me and the rest of the Council."

He then saw her standing from the ground and stood next to him.

"If you still have hate me, I understand. I don't deserve an ounce of your kindness." Before she could walk off, her wrist had suddenly been grabbed.

"Hold on, Sally."

She turned back to Shadow who had stood behind her and had his hand securely around her wrist preventing her from walking away.

"Yeah I won't lie. You've been the absolute biggest bitch to me since the day we met but...if Luke and I can put our differences aside, then so can we."

A small smile had formed on her lips. He didn't hate her. If he did, he would've let her walk off. She wanted the tension between them to end and he had wanted the same.

"What do you say, Sal? Can we just...start over?"

With a wide and warm smile on her face, she nodded and suddenly hugged him tightly.

Shocked from the fact that she was even hugging him, it took him a few moments to return the hug.

With her wide smile still on her face, she leaned her head onto his chest. "Of course." When she slowly looked back up at him, her eyes were locked with his and she felt like she couldn't look away. It was like she was drawn to him somehow. Her hair fluttered in the wind having her hair slightly getting in her face.

He took his hand and placed some of her hair back behind her ear.

With a small blush on her face, her heart raced as she felt his hand gently caressing her face. Their faces inched closer and closer to each other. Her hands slightly clenched his chest and closed her eyes slowly as her lips had pressed softly against his.

It was seconds later until he realized what was happening and he slowly took his lips away from hers. Once he realized what had just happened, he had the same unbelievable look on his face just as Sally.

With her face almost completely red, she lightly placed her fingers to her lips and looked back up at him, "Oh my..."

"God..." He nervously took a step back away from her.

She stood there completely in shock. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. "Shadow..."

"Sa-Sally...I..."

Before any of them could say anymore to each other, a large and silver metal object had fell from the sky and landed onto the ground in front of them. The impact of it hitting the ground had knocked them both back from each other.

Sally fell to the ground and looked up at whatever had attacked them. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw a huge silver robot standing before them. The robot appeared as tall as the tree they were both sitting under.

After standing from the ground, Shadow's eyes had fell upon the giant robot that had confronted them. "What the hell?"

Sally saw the robot turning to Shadow. "Shadow!"

A green aurora had surrounded his clenched fists as he glared at the robot that had him in its sights. "It's one of Hao's robots!"

Sally stood from the ground and glanced around but she saw no sight of Hao anywhere. Since the robot had its attention on Shadow, she wanted to bet that Hao sent that robot out particularly for Shadow. She slightly searched around her dress and sighed angrily, "No weapons on me", she huffed angrily under her breath. "Of course. Stupid, Sally..."

Shadow glanced over to Sally and saw the panicked expression on her face. Just by her being out of her work attire, he had a feeling, she didn't have any weapons on her. 'Damn it!" He thought, 'I bet she didn't bring any weapons with her. Looks like I'm on my own.' He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the robot raising its fist in the air towards him. He quickly jumped out of the way and saw the fist of the robot slam down onto the ground.

Sally fell to her knees as the ground shook from the impact.

When he saw its fist slammed down into the ground, he took the opportunity to run up on its arms and used his clenched fist to punch into its chest area. The punch was strong enough to penetrate through its chest but it wasn't enough to slow it down. It was just way too much metal and titanium.

The robot had then took its fist to knock him off of its body.

When Sally saw him being struck, she cried out in worry. "Shadow!"

With having Shadow away from it, the robot had then directed its attention towards Sally.

When Sally saw the robot turning to her, she took a step back from it.

When Shadow weakly stood from the ground, he saw the robot having its attention on Sally. He held his bleeding shoulder as he groaned, "Sally..."

She watched as it held up its other arm that had suddenly took the appearance of some sort of gun. When she tried to get away, a shot was fired from the barrel and it struck her leg. She yelled out in pain and fell to the ground. As she laid on the ground, she could feel blood trickling down her leg. When she saw the robot aiming the barrel of the gun over at her, she shut her eyes tightly. Her heart raced as she heard the shot being fired towards her. After a few seconds passed, she had noticed that she was somehow still alive. She slowly opened her eyes when she felt something dripping onto her face. Her eyes shot open in horror as she saw Shadow having his body on top of hers. Tears emerged from her eyes as more of his blood had dripped onto her face. "Sha...Shadow..."

"Sally..." he spoke in a low and weak voice. "...Are you okay?"

Before he could collapse, Sally had held his barely conscious body in her arms. As she held him, her hands could feel the blood oozing from the gunshot wound that was in his back. Tears streamed down her face, "No...no! No! Why would you do that? Please, Shadow!" She held his body close to hers, "Don't die! Please don't die!" She knew the robot was going to kill them both but at that point she couldn't do anything to protect them both. Her leg had been injured and Shadow was down. Everything was going dim for them both. She buried her wet face into his chest and softly sobbed. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." When she heard a clicking noise, she looked back up at the robot that had pointed the barrel of the gun towards her one again. Just when she thought this was the end, a sudden blue blur had started to surround both them and the robot.

The blur had moved so fast around them, they could feel the wind coming from it.

Suddenly the robot was knocked to the ground and away from Sally and Shadow.

Sally's eyes looked over to the blue figure who had his back turned to her while he had his attention on the robot that had fell to the ground.

He had placed his hands on his hips as he stared at the robot in front of him. "Heh, just like old times eh, Sal?"

With him still barely conscious, Shadow shifted his eyes over to the mysterious man.

Sally's eyes lit up in relief as she looked over at the blue male hedgehog who had turned his head to her. She mindlessly looked into his green eyes. "...Oh my God..." Tears of relief had swelled in her eyes, "It's you...it's really you..."

Shadow's eyes weakly scanned the male blue hedgehog who stood before them. The hedgehog wore a white and blue coat, a green t shirt underneath, blue skinny jeans, a brown belt, white gloves, and red and white shoes. He spoke in a low and weak voice, "Who..."

The blue hedgehog spun completely around to them and pointed to himself with a wide smirk on his face. "Sonic The Hedgehog's the name and speed's my game!"

 **Author's Note: And here is the blue blur himself here to save the day! But besides that, the tea has been spilled! Shadow and Sally finally agree to put their differences behind them and become friends...right? Ahem! Friends...yeah right! Wonder what'll happen next! Will Shadow be okay? What are these new feelings he and Sally have for each other? And will their 'incident' effect their future? And who exactly is Sonic The Hedgehog? Only one way to find out! Make sure you guys keep posted of the next chapter bomb update! Chapters 8-12 will be posted in a few weeks! So sit tight and again thank you all for your positive feedback and reviews! Remember if you have any questions about anything, PM me! R &R please! And see you on the flipside! **

**In The Next Chapter...**

 **Grace: These demons are breaking into homes and killing people. It's gotta be The Dark Alliance...**

 **Charmy: We're gonna stop this. I promise.**

 **Amethyst: ...Lydia?**

 **Lydia: You're sleeping with Rick out of all people? What the hell is this!**

 **Scourge: You're one sick bitch, babe.**

 **Fiona: Heh, I get it from you...**

 **Risa: No...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note : I don't normally do this, but I thought this would only be fair so I don't get scolded for this later. This chapter will contain extremely graphic and strong sexual content AKA: lemon. This story is for mature readers anyway but this chapter in particular is just really violent and gory. If you guys have weak stomachs, then this is not for the faint of heart. Just giving you guys a heads up. Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER 8**

The next morning, Grace was in the kitchen of her and Charmy's apartment. She was sitting at the table looking at the screen of her phone. She was watching a live video of the morning news that was happening within Tech City. She bit her lip anxiously as she listened to the newswoman who was talking.

"Late yesterday evening, a young married couple were found mysteriously murdered in their home. Both bodies had appeared to have been eaten. The Tech City Police Department confirms that this is leading to the other recent cannibalistic murders taking place around the district."

Her stomach turned as she watched and listened to the news. She felt she could no longer watch the news and shut off the phone and placed it down on the surface of the table. She rested her elbow on the table and placed her hand over her mouth in horror. 'It's obvious an Almas didn't do that. They're not smart enough to break inside of peoples' houses. It has to be those other demons. The Dark Alliance...' She was interrupted from her thoughts when she saw Charmy stepping into the kitchen.

He stood there at the other end of the kitchen while now wearing a uniform shirt just as the rest as the Chaotix team. He wore a yellow long sleeve collared shirt, blue denim pants, orange and white shoes, white gloves with black bracelets around the cuffs, and had his silver goggles hung around his neck. "Okay, Grace. What do you think?" He spun completely around so she could see his entire outfit.

She formed a small smile as she gazed upon him. "I think you look very professional, Charmy."

He formed a wide smile as he walked over to her. "Yeah? I think so too!" He leaned his body over on the back of one of the empty chairs at the table. "My first official day back on the team. I can't believe it and so much has changed since I've been gone." He rested his chin in the palm of his hand as he began to think of what all had happened during his absence. "Shadow and Rouge had a baby together, Freya joined up with the team, Espio and Tonya are married now. It's amazing how time flies."

Grace had made a small nod. She still didn't know much about the rest of the Chaotix team, but so far she found everyone pleasantly nice.

Charmy noticed her expression and it appeared that she had a lot on her mind. "Grace?"

She looked back up at him as he called out to her. "Hm?"

"Are you sure you wanted to come back to Tech City with me? I told you before what my job was and it's pretty dangerous." He slightly shifted his eyes from her, "Being here is dangerous..." He turned back to her when he felt her hand being placed against the side of his face.

"Like anywhere is safe? Besides, I told you before. Wherever you go, I go."

He made a small smile and slightly shifted his eyes down towards her stomach. "I know. I just worry about you...and the baby..."

She lightly placed her hand over her stomach and smiled warmly towards him. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. After all, you're here."

He smiled warmly towards her as he leaned closer to her. "And I always will be."

"I love you, Charmy."

"I love you, Grace", he replied back to her before he leaned closer to softly press his lips against hers.

Later at the Radiant Guard headquarters, Lydia was in the garden room with a silver metal watering can in her hands. She was watering some of the flowers that were kept in pots and hanging baskets. She was interrupted when she heard the door to the room opening. She slightly turned her head to the purple lynx woman who was walking towards her. Once she was sight of her, she flashed her eyes away from her in annoyance.

"Oh, Lydia", she spoke as she approached her. "There you are. I've barely seen you all day."

She continued to water the flowers and didn't bother to turn to her. "What do you want?"

Amethyst didn't want to admit to noticing it but it appeared that something was bothering her with just the way she had spoke to her. She tried not to think nothing of it. "Oh, um I was wondering if you were still on for our usual tea and meditation session later on after work?"

"No", she spoke in a quick and harsh tone. "I already have plans."

She arched an eyebrow in confusion. "What? But you never miss a session with me..." She was startled when Lydia had suddenly slammed the metal watering can down onto the table beside her.

"I said I'm busy!" She shouted angrily.

She placed a hand lightly on her chest and nervously took a step back from her. "...Lydia? What's wrong? I feel such a negative vibe from you."

"Why do you care? Why don't you go talk your feelings over with Rick?"

Her heart skipped a beat as she heard Rick's name slipping from her mouth. She rarely heard her or anyone else on the team speak of the members from The Crimson Blade let alone Rick. "...What?"

"You heard me", she spoke in a low yet angry tone.

"Lydia, I don't understand..."

She had then angrily spun around to her. "Don't play dumb with me! I know what you've been doing! I can't believe you! Him! Out of all people!"

"Lydia..."

She pointed her finger towards her angrily, "You've been fucking Rick!"

She softly gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. "...How did you find out?"

The situation was already bad enough. She didn't want to mention that she had caught the two making love in her office. The thought of it had made her stomach turn. "It doesn't matter!"

"Lydia, please..."

"How long? How long has this been going on?"

With a slight and embarrassed blush on her face, she couldn't look her in the eyes. She nervously crossed her arms and looked towards the ground. "It's been awhile now..."

Awhile? But how long is awhile exactly? She was heartbroken that she never bothered to tell her about her relationship with Rick. The two were very close friends so why would she even bother hiding this from her? "Then why? Why haven't you told me?"

"Because..."

"Because you know exactly what kind of person he is!" She clenched her fists tightly. "Rick maybe a Captain but he's such an evil and cruel man. His negative aurora is something we do not need here! It's something you don't need!"

She looked back at her, "Lydia, hear me out. Rick is not all bad as you think. Yes he can be rash at times but he is still on our side you know?"

She scoffed under her breath, "Yeah right. And so is Shadow supposedly..." Lydia personally didn't like Shadow because of him being a half demon, but Amethyst always threw out signs that she wanted to make peace with him. However at times, Amethyst would be on the fence with him if she saw him angrily lashing out towards the other Council members.

"I don't understand why you're getting so upset over this." She slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Rick and I are seeing each other. Why does it bother you so much?" She watched as she started to walk away from her angrily.

"It's something you would never understand", she muttered angrily before storming out of the garden room leaving Amethyst confused and hurt by her words.

Much later on that night, Risa had happily walked out of a two story home and stood at the doorway of the porch. She looked back at the two figures who stood in front of her.

There was a male blue raccoon who appeared around in his late thirties. He had dark blue hair and purple eyes. He wore a gray long sleeve collared shirt, brown dress pants, and black dress shoes.

The other blue raccoon was a woman. She appeared around the same age as him. She had purple hair that came down to her shoulders and yellow eyes. She was wearing a pink long sleeve dress that had stopped to her ankles and blue flat shoes. She had held a newborn blue baby raccoon who was wrapped in a white blanket in her arms. She smiled warmly towards Risa. "Oh Risa, thank you so much again for looking after Declan."

"Yeah", the male raccoon had agreed. "With work and all, it's been impossible for us to catch any kind of break. Especially when Declan needs so much attention."

Risa made a wide smile towards him. "No problem, Joe."

"We hope we're not being a burden to you or anything with having you looking after Declan so much", the woman raccoon spoke.

She shook her head and raised her hands, "Hey it's no burden at all, Ann!" She pointed to a house that was slightly further down from their house. "I'm just a few houses away and besides..." She leaned over to Declan and began to lightly tickle under his chin causing the baby to giggle softly. "I love spending time with Declan!"

Ann made a warm smile towards her, "We're so glad and Declan has definitely taken a liking to you and so quickly."

Joe had turned back to her, "Now you're sure you can babysit again?"

Risa made a nod, "Yup! Tomorrow morning right?"

"Right", he replied back to her. "Then it's all settled. We'll see you first thing in the morning."

"Okay you got it!"

Before Risa could walk off of their porch, Ann had called out to her. "Goodnight, Risa. Be careful going home and tell your mother I said hello."

She waved to them as she walked off of their porch, "Okay I will! See you guys tomorrow!"

After when Risa had left, Joe had closed the door and stepped back inside of the house with his wife. He turned to her with a relieved smile on his face. "God that girl is a lifesaver."

She smiled warmly towards him. "I'll say. Since the day we met her, she's been nothing but sweet to us." When she heard a small yawn, she looked down at the baby raccoon who was yawning tiredly. "Looks like someone's sleepy."

He formed a small smile and held his hands out towards her. "I'll put him to bed."

She watched as he took the tired baby from her arms. "You sure?"

He made a nod and held the baby in his arms. "Yeah, hun. I got it. Just sit down and relax for a bit. I know you're tired too."

"Well you're not wrong", she leaned over to give him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thanks, hun. I'll see you in a bit." When he walked upstairs, she headed into the living room to sit in a chair that was set across from the television that was showing the news. The news was talking more about the strange murders that was happening all throughout Tech City. She bit her lip nervously. This wasn't the first time she's heard about this. The talk of the murders were always flooding the news. She couldn't help but to become worried about the entire situation. "I hope Risa made it home safely", she murmured to herself.

Her ears had then perked up when she had heard a thumping noise upstairs. It sounded like something had fell to the floor. She reached for the remote and lowered the volume on the television as she slowly began to make her way out of the chair she had sat in. She walked to the front of the stairs and looked up into the dark hallway of the second floor. "...Joe?" She had called. She waited for a reply from him but she heard nothing back from him. She then slowly and cautiously made her way up the stairs. When she stood in the dark hallway, she turned to the room that was at the end of the hallway. She started to make her way towards the door. "Joe?" She once again called out. "Is everything okay?" She still had heard nothing. When she stood in front of the door, she slowly placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly. When she slowly opened the door, she had slowly stepped into the dark and quiet room.

She nervously looked around and caught sight of the empty rocking chair that was setting in the corner of Declans's room. "...Joe?" Her eyes then traveled down to the floor. Her heart raced as she caught sight of Joe who had laid face down onto the floor. "Joe?" She rushed over to him and shook him slightly. "Joe?" She shook his body even harder and he still didn't move. She started to panic. "Joe!" She then rolled his body over on his back and saw that he was unconscious with blood running down the side of his head. It appeared that he was struck in the head with something blunt. She placed her hand over her mouth in horror. "Oh my God..." Now she really started to panic. If he was unconscious on the floor, then where was Declan? She looked up at the baby crib that was set in front of the bedroom window. She slowly stood from the floor with tears swelling in her eyes. She started to slowly approach the crib, "Oh please God no..." When she looked over into the crib, she saw nothing but multiple empty blankets and a few toys that were left inside of it. Tears had ran down her face. If Declan wasn't there then where was he? She had then suddenly heard a feminine voice coming from behind her.

"Looking for something?"

Her eyes widened as she heard the strange woman's voice. She slowly turned and saw a female red fox leaning her back against the wall and looking down at something that was wrapped in a white blanket in her hands. She knew what whatever she was holding had to have been her baby. "Declan..." In horror, she watched as the fox woman placed her finger in the inside of the white blanket. Once she took her finger away, her entire finger was covered in blood. Her heart raced as she saw her take her bloody finger and place it into her mouth.

She slowly took her finger from her mouth and licked some of the blood that was left around her lips. "Mmm young blood seems to always taste better", she spoke with an evil smirk on her face.

Just from the sight of that, she had suddenly felt weak in the knees. "No...Declan", she sobbed in a low voice. "Declan!" When she started to run out of the room, the door had suddenly slammed shut in front of her. She turned and saw a male green hedgehog who had stood from behind the door. She backed away as soon as she saw him having his red eyes fixed onto her. "No...what do you want?" She had then heard Joe's faint and weak voice calling out to her.

"Ann...", he groaned in a low tone. "Run..."

Joe was still alive but she didn't want to leave him alone. But at this point, what choice did she have? She was surrounded by the two strange figures who had invaded their home.

The seemingly demonic green hedgehog had started to approach her with a menacing look on his face. "Look, lady. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

As she saw him getting closer to her, she quickly ran her way out of the room avoiding his reach towards her. "No! Stay away!"

While she still held the dead child in her arms, the fox woman flashed her eyes over to the hedgehog. "Scourge!"

"Yeah I got it", he spoke in an annoyed tone as he began to chase after her.

Ann had ran through the dark hall and had made it inside of the bedroom. Once she ran in, she slammed the door behind her and had locked it from the inside.

Scourge ran up to the closed door and banged his fist against it. "You're making this much harder than it has to be, lady!"

With tears streaming down her face, she kneeled down onto the floor and started to search under the bed for something.

With ease it seemed, Scourge had managed to break the hinges of the door. Once he stepped inside, the barrel of a shotgun was pointed at his face.

Ann had tightly yet nervously held onto the handle of the gun. "You killed my baby! Damn you!"

Before she had the chance to fire, Scourge had easily knocked the gun out of her hands and flung it onto the floor on the other side of the dark bedroom. He stepped over to her and grabbed her by her neck. "Mortals are so pathetic..."

She struggled to get out of his grip but couldn't because he had such a strong grip around her neck. She tried gasping for air while he began to strangle her. While having her in his grip, he walked over to the wall and began to constantly bash her head into it.

She screamed and screamed as she felt the overwhelming sensation of pain of her head being crushed in against the wall.

"Goddamn", he swore under his breath. "Just die already." He watched as her blood splattered all over the wall and practically covered his hand and arm. Once she had stopped screaming, he carelessly tossed her lifeless body onto the bed next to him. He shifted his eyes over and stared at the blood that practically covered her entire face after bashing her head against the wall of the room. He couldn't help but to slightly lick his lips as he watched as the bed sheets slowly became soaked with blood. With a satisfied look on his face, he decided to walk out of the room and make his way back into the baby's room with Fiona. When he stepped inside, he saw Fiona kneeling next to the man's body and placed her hands onto his face. He watched as she fiercely turned his head to the side snapping his neck to completely kill him. He lazily leaned his shoulder against the doorway of the room and watched her standing from the now dead body. "Bitch tried pulling a gun on me, but she was too scared and slow to fire it."

"Good", she spoke as she began to walk over to the baby crib. She took the white blood soaked blanket that had wrapped around the dead child's body and held it in her arms. "If she managed to fire a round, that would've probably drew some attention."

He watched her walk over to him with the blanket in her arms. He looked into it and saw that the child's eyes had been punctured in and it appeared that the neck had been sliced open with a blade. He took his eyes away and looked back over at her with a slight smirk on his face. "You sick bitch."

She leaned her back against his body and felt his hands wrap around her waist. She slightly turned her head to him. "I learn from the best." She watched as he gave her a quick peck on the lips.

He watched her walk away from him and place the blanket that wrapped around the dead child back down into the crib. He lazily stretched out his arms and walked over to the dead man that was on the floor, "Nice clean kill by the way." He kneeled next to the body and observed the trail of blood that had trickled down the side of his head. "There's barely any blood." He looked back up at her, "You're usually pretty messy, babe."

She kneeled down next to the body as well and grabbed around the wrist. "Better than you I assume." She opened her mouth and parted her fangs before she began to bite into the wrist. She took a chomp out of the wrist and chewed onto some of the flesh before she swallowed it whole. "Judging by the blood on your hand and arm, I'd say you left quite a mess in the other room."

He leaned over to the shoulder of the body and parted his fangs. "What can I say? She had a little fight in her."

She slightly laughed under her breath and watched as he started to bite into the shoulder of the corpse. She began to suck and lick the blood from her fingers. She happily sighed as she licked away every drop of blood on her hand. "God I remember when I first tasted blood like it was yesterday."

With blood and lumps of flesh dripping from his mouth, he looked back up at her.

"The taste of mortal flesh and blood is so fresh and exhilarating. I feel like I could never get enough."

A small smirk formed on his lips while he stared at the expression on her face. "I love seeing you like this."

"Oh? Why is that?" She then saw him taking her by her wrist and practically flung her body to the floor. She laid her back on the floor and saw him setting his body on top of hers.

"Because you get horny as shit."

A small smirk formed on her lips, "You like it."

"I fucking love it", he leaned over to her until his blood smeared lips were pressed against hers. As his body pressed closer to hers, he took his tongue and playfully licked the entrance of her mouth. His tongue slipped in as her tongue had came into contact with his.

When he took his hand away from her wrist, she placed her hands on the sides of his face and had deepened their passionate kiss. A moan escaped her while they passionately kissed. She felt his hands traveling down to her lower waist and stroking her thighs. She had then placed her hands over his and took her mouth from his. She leaned her forehead against his and gave him a seductive look. "Scourge, hunny", she called in a soft tone. "Not in front of the baby."

A small laugh escaped under his breath. He licked away more of the blood that was around his mouth. "Right what was I thinking?" He took himself off of her and picked her body off from the floor. She giggled softly while he held her in his arms.

"How about we take this to the bedroom?"

She took her finger and playfully stroked it against his chest. "Oh, Scourge", she giggled softly. She watched as he began to lead her into the bedroom. When they both arrived inside, he had playfully threw her body onto the bed. When she laid there on the bed, she felt something soak and wet under her hand. She turned and saw the corpse of the woman he had killed laying sideways on the bed. Her eyes shifted over to the wall near them that was practically covered in blood. She took her hand off of the blood soaked bed sheets and turned back to him. "My God you made a mess in here."

He stood at the foot of the bed and began to take off his black leather jacket. "You love it when I'm messy though."

"Oh but I can't be messy though? I see how it is", she had teased as she watched him toss his jacket to the floor and placed his body on top of her. She seductively licked her lips, "You seriously gonna fuck me with this corpse on the bed?"

He smirked evilly, "Why not? Dinner and a show." He leaned over to her and once again pressed his lips against hers. As he kissed her, her hands traveled around his muscular chest. As her hands moved downwards, she began to tug at his red shirt.

Just by the way she had pulled slightly on his shirt, he knew that she wanted it off of him. He did as she wanted and took the shirt off of his body. He kissed her lips once more before he started to make his way down to her neck.

She felt his hands gripping around her breasts. Small moans escaped her as she felt him playfully pinching and twisting at her nipples through her black crop top. It wasn't long before he completely almost ripped her top right off of her body. The back of her head had rested onto the pillow as she felt his tongue starting to massage her erect nipples.

His hands had slowly traveled down to her lower waist and began to unbuckle the belts to her black pants.

She soon felt her pants along with her underwear and boots slipping off of her body. After when she had took her black fingerless gloves off, she was laying there on the bed completely naked. A soft moan escaped her as she felt his lips softly kissing down her stomach and towards her lower region. Her head tilted back slightly against the pillow when she felt his tongue gently massaging her entrance. Her moans had gotten louder as he begun to flick his tongue against her now wet clit. "Ah! Scourge!" She cried out in pleasure as she gripped the bed sheets.

While he sucked and licked at her moist opening, he had started to unbuckle the belts to his pants. When he unzipped his pants, he quickly took them off his body and tossed them to the floor. He took his lips from her wet opening and lifted her leg slightly in the air. He licked his fingers while he gave her a seductive look.

She had given him the same seductive look in return and watched as he began to shove two fingers inside of her wet opening. More moans escaped her as she felt his fingers being inserted inside of her. "Oh fuck, Scourge." As he began to take his fingers in and out of her quickly and harshly, her moans got louder. "Fuck that feels good! Fuck!"

He smirked as he saw her reaction. "You like this don't you, babe?"

"You know I do", she replied in an aroused ton.

"Then you're gonna love the feel of my dick being inside of you."

Once she felt his fingers being taken out of her, she had then felt something much bigger being inserted inside of her. She made a small gasp as she felt him pushing his length inside of her. "Oh goddamn", she swore under her breath.

He pushed himself deeper inside of her. "Fuck, Fi", he moaned slightly. "I love how tight your pussy is." Once he got himself completely inside of her, he had began to thrust himself in and out of her.

Her hands had gripped around his arms as he felt his hard erect member stroking against the inside of her moist walls. As his thrusts got faster, she saw the body of the woman he had killed slowly slip off of the bed and fall to the floor. She bit her lip as she turned back to him. "Fuck me harder", she had begged in an aroused tone.

With him hearing that from her, he did as she wanted. He gripped onto the headboard of the bed and had went harder and fiercer.

She bit her lip more as he went harder, "Fuck! Fuck yeah, Scourge!" She dug her fingertips into his shoulders, "Fuck me! Fuck the shit out of me!"

He slowly leaned over to her and slightly panted as he continued to please her. "Fuck you're so wet, Fi."

She clenched her fingertips into his shoulder deeper, "Ah, Scourge! I feel it! I-I'm gonna come!"

Once he heard that from her, he didn't think twice about dare stopping. "Oh yeah! Come all over my dick, baby!" In no time, he felt her tighten herself around his member and soon felt her warm essence splashing against him.

She cried out in orgasm as she released herself all over his member. "Oh fuck, baby!" She slightly bucked her hips as she continued to release herself. Her head then fell back onto the pillow and she began to heave her chest in exhaustion. She didn't have time to recollect herself as she felt him take his wet and hard member out of her. She watched him pull her off from the bed and pinned her back against the wall.

He took her leg and wrapped it around his waist as he placed himself back inside of her. With his body pressed against hers, he again began to thrust himself into her.

Her tight and moist walls ached as she felt him roughly thrusting himself inside of her. She panted heavily, "Oh God..."

He leaned over and whispered to her, "Fuck I love you, Fiona."

She clenched her fingertips into his back. "I love you too, Scourge." She felt him sucking and kissing her neck until she felt a sharp pinch sinking into the side of her neck. She soon felt the small trickle of blood running down her neck and onto her chest. She leaned her head back and felt his tongue licking some of her blood away from her neck. This wasn't the first time this had happened. He bit her before while they made love to each other. She knew this couldn't kill her or cause her to become weak. She would sometimes bite him as well. Though it was unheard of for demons to kill each other by eating each other. Demons never had a desired taste for one another's blood. Only mortals. She and Scourge bit each other to only show affection for each other. Once he had bit into her harder, she had suddenly felt his warm essence splashing inside of her. Soft moans escaped her as she felt his warmth splash inside of her.

He slowly took his fangs out of her neck and took her body away from the wall.

Her back bounced onto the soft yet bloodstained bed. She securely held Scourge in her arms as he rested his head onto her bloody chest with a small and content smile on his face.

The next morning, Risa repeatedly knocked and banged onto the door of Ann and Joe's home. "Ann?" She had called through the door. "Joe?" She had been standing at the door for awhile waiting for someone to answer but they never came to the door. She looked down at the watch on her wrist and saw that it was a little past eight. She sighed slightly and murmured under her breath, "I know I'm a little late but geez..." She turned her head and looked over to the driveway. Their car was still there so she knew they had to be home. She once again banged on the door and walked over to the window near her. The curtain was closed but as she listened, she could hear the news on the television through the walls. She figured they had to have been awake. She walked back over to the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. She turned the doorknob and was surprised that it was open.

She slowly stepped inside and glanced around the house from where she stood. "...Ann? Joe?" She called loudly throughout the house but she once again didn't get an answer. She peeked her head into the living room and saw the news on the television but no one was in the room. She looked up at the quiet and dark hallway upstairs. "...Ann?" She had decided to slowly make her way up the stairs. Once she stood in the dark hallway of the second floor of the home, she glanced around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was quiet around her. She began to walk towards the door of the bedroom that was slightly cracked open. "...Joe?" She placed her hand on the door and gently pushed it open.

Once she stepped into the room, her eyes fell upon the bloody and half eaten body of a woman that was laying across the messy and bloodstained bed. Her eyes widened in horror. She placed her hand over her nose and mouth as the stench of death filled the entire bedroom. Tears swelled in her eyes, "No..." She began to back away. "No!" She screamed, "Ann!" With tears streaming down her face, she ran out of the room and began to run towards the room across the hall. If Ann was there, then where was Joe and Declan? "Please", she sobbed. "Please God no!"

She ran into the room across from the bedroom. She flung open the halfway closed door and stood at the doorway with her legs shaking. With again the room reeking of death, her terrified eyes fell upon the half eaten corpse of a man laying on the floor and a small blood soaked white blanket that had the form of something small inside of it laying on the floor beside the corpse of the man. "No...No!" Her terrified screams filled the entire house as she collapsed onto the floor while panicking and crying.

 **Author's Note: I felt like I legit wrote a thriller/horror chapter here. And this chapter was LONG AF! So that's partially why it took forever to upload. But don't worry. The chapter bomb is still in the works. Trying to post a bomb early next week. But late Thursday, you guys can expect the next chapter to be posted a little bit early. But other than that...Scourge and Fiona are getting quite merciless! Can the Chaotix stop them before they kill more loved ones? Also what's been going on back in Kingdom of Acorn? We shall find out in the next chapter! Chapter 9 will be posted on Thursday! Until then, see you guys on the flip side! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Sally: It's really you...**

 **Sonic: Just like old times eh, Sal?**

 **Shadow: Blue idiot...**

 **Sally: Shadow...**

 **Shadow: Sally...what the hell are we doing?**

 **Sally: Finishing what we started...**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

While holding Shadow's barely conscious body in her arms, Sally's eyes fell upon the male blue hedgehog who stood before them. With the gentle wind helping her dry the tears from her face, a small yet relieved smile formed on her lips. "Sonic...it's you. It's really you..."

With a wide smile on his face, the blue hedgehog turned back to the huge robot that was slowly standing from the ground from when he had knocked it down. "Some things never change eh, Sal?"

Shadow's eyes continued to scan the mysterious blue hedgehog. Who was he? Where did he come from? And he knew Sally?

Sonic stepped forward and stood in a fighting stance, "Allright! Let's dance, metalhead!" He had exclaimed as he clenched his fists and formed a smirk.

Before the robot could aim its gun and fire, it saw the blue hedgehog running towards it at an amazing speed. With him running around it in random angles at such a fast speed, it couldn't lock its sights on him.

Sonic continued to run around the now confused robot. He knew his movements were throwing it off which was going great in his upcoming strategy to bring the robot down. He had began to laugh when he saw the robot who wasn't clearly keeping up with him. "Heh! You're too slow!"

While Sally watched as Sonic distracted the robot, she felt Shadow slowly trying to sit his body up in her arms. She looked down at him in worry "Shadow?"

While holding his throbbing and bleeding side, he turned to the blue hedgehog who was running around the robot. He muttered under his breath, "That hedgehog...what is he?"

Once he saw that the robot was completely confused, Sonic leapt off of the ground and jumped onto its wrist.

The robot caught sight of him standing on its wrist. Once he knew he had the robots attention, he held up his middle finger and made a teasing look. "I'm over here you dumb robot!" When he saw him raise its other wrist towards him, he leapt off of its wrist and watched as it slammed its hand onto its wrist completely destroying it.

Sally helped Shadow stand to his feet while he focused his attention to the blue hedgehog who had fought with the robot. "...Are you okay, Shadow?"

He watched as Sonic fought and he was amazed by his speed and his smart strategies. 'He's fast...really fast. And he's making that robot destroy itself. He's a good strategist I'll give him that.'

With both of its arms practically destroyed, it looked down at Sonic who had took the barrel of the gun that had fell on the ground from when he had made it dislocate it from its arms and pointed it towards it.

Once he pointed the barrel of the gun towards it, he ran towards a switch that was hidden within the arm and pushed it.

They all watched as a bright white beam shot out of the barrel of the gun and shot straight through the robot.

When the laser shot a huge hole through its chest, it wasn't long before the entire ground shook as the robot fell back onto the ground.

A wide smile formed on Sally's face as she witnessed Sonic defeating the robot. "Yeah! Way to go, Sonic!"

Sonic turned back to Sally who had cheered for him and saw the weakened black and red hedgehog staring him down. With the use of his super speed, he ran back over to the two. "What a bucket of bolts huh? But still that was a close call. You guys okay?"

Sally made a nod and clasped her hands together in happiness. "Yes thanks to you, Sonic. Thank you."

He scratched the back of his head while he heard Sally praising him. "I was actually out of town to do some research on this Hao guy but when Silver and the guys told me you came back to the kingdom, I had to come see you." He had looked to her with a warm smile on his face, "It's been awhile, Sal..."

A small and slight blush formed on her face while she warmly smiled back at him. "I know. It's been so long..."

Shadow's eyes flashed back and forth between the two in confusion. Just by observing how the two had acted around each other, it seemed that they knew each other quite well.

Sonic's green eyes had then looked over to the seemingly confused black and red hedgehog. "Oh? Where are my manners? You are?"

An annoyed look had appeared on his face as he turned to him, "...Manners? What fucking manners? Who the hell are you?" Right off the bat he found it rude how he had asked who he was.

With an uneasy look on his face, Sonic nervously took a step back from the annoyed black and red hedgehog. "...Whoa." He gave Sally an uneasy look and pointed towards Shadow, "Your new boyfriend's pretty scary."

Flustered looks had both appeared on Shadow and Sally's faces.

Shadow's flustered and annoyed look had then turned to an angry one. "I am not her boyfriend!"

Sally nervously held her hands up and shook her head slightly, "N-No way! He's not my boyfriend!" Even before the robot attack, she did recall the two locking lips with each other. After everything that had happened, it seemed like that warm moment between the two was some kind of dream.

Shadow turned to Sally with still an angry look on his face, "Sally, who is this blue idiot anyway?"

A sweat drop had appeared on the side of his head, "Blue idiot? Wow...rude." He crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow towards the hedgehog. "You sir, are not very nice. But then again, I guess I wouldn't be either if I just got my ass handed to me by a walking heap of metal."

Before Shadow could say anymore to him, Sally had stepped in between the two. She nervously held out her hands at both of them. "Now, now..." She turned to Sonic, "Sonic, this is Shadow. He works with me on The Council back in Tech City." She then turned to Shadow, "Shadow, this is Sonic. The kingdom's fastest hero alive and..." A sudden small blush formed on her face. "...My ex boyfriend..."

Okay. Did his ears deceive him? The 'blue idiot' was Sally's ex boyfriend? The world he knew just got smaller and smaller it seemed. With him losing so much blood and the searing pain of his injuries, he felt as though he could no longer stand and felt himself slowly losing consciousness.

Sally shrieked in horror as she watched Shadow suddenly collapse to the ground and go unconscious. "Oh God! Shadow!"

Sonic watched as Sally kneeled beside his body and tried to wake him up. He arched an eyebrow as he stared at the unconscious hedgehog. "Eh I always manage to have this kind of effect on people."

Sally flashed her eyes over to him as she witnessed him trying to make light of the situation. "Sonic! Help me get him to the castle!"

"Oh right!" He had then helped her to try to get him back to Elias' castle.

Early that next morning, Sally slowly and tiredly walked down the large and empty hallway of the castle. She wore a dark green sleeveless nightgown that came down to her feet and a green transparent and sheer like robe on top of her nightgown. She made a small yawn and tiredly dragged her matching slippers over the red carpet on the floor. "Goddamn", she murmured in a tired tone. "It feels like I got hit by a truck." She stopped in her tracks when she saw Gardon making his way out of one of the rooms.

The koala stood at the doorway and looked back inside of the room. "You sure you don't need anything else? Water? Bandages? A book?"

"I'm good, Gardon. Thanks."

As soon as she heard the familiar man's voice from inside of the room, her heart suddenly raced in her chest. It was Shadow. After she and Sonic had brought Shadow back to the castle yesterday, she didn't get the chance to see how he was doing after the castle maids and assistants had treated them both for their injuries.

"Well if you say so. If you need anything at all, just let me know." Once he heard him thank him once more, he had slowly and quietly closed the door behind him. Before he could walk back down the hall, he had spotted Sally standing in front of him. "Oh? Princess Sally?" As he glanced at her nightwear, his eyes couldn't stop glancing at her exposed chest cleavage. He tried his best to look her in her blue eyes. "What are you doing up so early?"

Her eyes slightly shifted away from him while she crossed her arms. "I just couldn't sleep. That's all." Her eyes had then glanced over to the room he had just came out of. "...Is Shadow okay?"

He made a nod, "He's actually doing quite well. Despite his severe injuries from yesterday, he's healed up quite nicely I'd say."

A small smile of relief formed on her lips, "Thank goodness."

"What about you, Princess? Are you doing okay?"

She made a nod and gave him a reassuring smile, "Yes I'm fine. Getting shot in the leg isn't my first time. Won't be my last I'm sure."

"Oh, well if you need anything, please let me know."

"I will. Thank you, Gardon."

He waved to her as he began to walk away, "See you later, Princess."

When she saw him walking away from her and soon left out of her sight, she turned back to the door he had just left out of. Gardon had just told her that Shadow was allright but she wanted to see for herself. She walked up to the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. She turned the doorknob and slowly cracked the door open while she lightly knocked on the door.

When he heard the light knocking on the door, he slightly turned his head towards the doorway of the bedroom. His ears perked up when he heard the familiar feminine voice on the other side of the door.

"Shadow? Can I come in?"

"Why not? You already showed yourself in", he spoke in an annoyed tone.

Sally slowly made her way inside of the large bedroom. She closed the door behind her quietly and her eyes fell upon the black and red hedgehog who sat on the railing of a balcony that was outside of the window. While he had admired the beautiful sunrise, Sally felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from him.

With the gentle morning breeze brushing against his quill, he sat there in content while wearing his usual work uniform. However the red long sleeve collared shirt he always wore, was unbuttoned which revealed his exposed muscular chest that had been wrapped in bandages from his injuries from yesterday.

Once she caught sight of him with his shirt undone, she couldn't fight the warm blush that formed on her face. She tried her hardest to keep a calm and collected look on her face as she slowly began to approach him. "...Uh I'm sorry I just barged in here. I just wanted to see how you were doing?"

He turned to her and calmly crossed his arms, "I'm fine. Sorry I sounded a little grouchy. I'm kinda like that when I first wake up anyway." When he lightly scratched the side of his head, his eyes fell upon her nightwear. He had to admit that it was quite revealing especially with her gown that showed much of her cleavage. It was hard for him not to stare. He glanced down towards her leg. "...Are you okay? I mean your leg..."

She glanced down at her leg that was covered up from her long gown. "It still hurts a bit, but I'm fine. It's just a gunshot wound." She looked back up at him. "I'm just concerned for you. You took a lot of damage from that robot." She shifted her eyes away from him slowly as she recalled how injured he was yesterday. He was almost covered in blood. Even while she tried helping him, the dress she had wore was soaked with more so his blood than hers. "I thought you were gonna die..."

He lightly scoffed under his breath, "Yeah right. Can't die. Immortal demon remember?"

Of course. The only actual way to kill any demon is to either blow their bodies to bits or decapitate their head. She forgot this especially when they were both suddenly under attack from that robot. However, Shadow was a half demon. She wondered if the exact rules still applied to him. "Oh...right." She slowly made her way over to the balcony and ended up sitting beside him.

He turned to her when he saw her sitting beside her, "Besides demons heal fast. If I was really in bad shape, I'd still be bedridden. By the end of the day, I'll feel like a new man."

She watched as he tiredly stretched his arms out and he did so without showing any painful expressions. It was amazing. Yesterday it seemed that he was seconds from death and today, he acted as though he was never even hurt. She still couldn't help but to feel guilty from him getting hurt. After all, it all happened because he had saved her. "From all the madness yesterday, I didn't get the chance to thank you for saving my life."

"Hey don't mention it. It's not a big deal." He didn't think too much of what he had done. Really he thought of it nothing but simply doing his job and looking out for his teammate.

She lightly placed her hand on her bare chest, "Still you sacrificed yourself for me. Even after I've been so cruel to you."

"Hey it's all in the past. We're cool now. Remember?"

"I know but..." She slowly extended her hand out and placed it gently onto the bandage that was wrapped around his chest. "I still feel like you getting hurt was all my fault..." She slightly flinched when she saw him taking his hand and placing it on her wrist while she still had her hand on his chest. She looked up at him and saw the same look he had given her before they were both attacked yesterday. This was all feeling so strange yet so right. Her heart raced as their eyes locked with each other.

"Trust me, Sal", he spoke in a soft voice. "It's okay..."

Her body was slowly leaning closer to his. It was so close, their lips inched closer and closer to each other. Before she knew it, her lips were pressed against his and the two were locked in a passionate kiss. When she felt his hand being placed on her waist to pull her closer to him, she pressed her breasts against his chest while their kiss deepened. While their tongues were exploring each other's mouths, she couldn't help but to gently tug on the collar of his open shirt.

Once he heard a small moan escape her, he slowly took his lips from hers and placed his forehead against hers. "...Fuck, Sally", he spoke softly. "What the hell are we doing?"

Her hands slowly traveled around his chest, "...Finishing what we started", she replied in a seductive tone.

He suddenly placed his hand around her wrist to stop her from going downwards. He slightly shook his head, "No Sal, we...we can't..."

"Shadow..." She spoke in a blank and soft tone. She had then saw him quickly shove himself away from her and jumped from the railing of the balcony the two had sat on. She turned to him as he stormed away from her. "Shadow?"

He spun back to her while buttoning his shirt, "God damn it", he swore under his breath. "I can't do this. This can't happen..."

In concern, she jumped off of the balcony and stepped back into the bedroom along with him. "Shadow, I...I don't understand..."

"Trust me. I don't either but...this isn't right..." He placed his hand on his forehead as he paced around the room. "I'm fucking married for God's sake."

She lightly placed her hands on her chest, "I-I know...but you feel something and I do too..."

"Sally! Don't!" He snapped, "Just fucking don't!" He angrily pointed towards her, "I don't know what's going through your head but you better get that shit out! Right now!"

She angrily fixed her eyes onto him. "Don't put all this shit on me! You fucking kissed me too!" She held two fingers up towards him, "Twice in case you forgot what happened yesterday!"

"I know! But I..." He angrily placed his hand on the side of his head and sighed heavily. "I can't...I can't be here right now..."

She watched as he began to storm out of the room. "Shadow!"

He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned back to her one final time. "Just stay away from me, Sally", he spoke coldly before he stormed out of the room.

No matter how hard she tried to fight it, tears swelled in her eyes. She leaned her back against the wall and crossed her arms as she tried to figure out what had just happened between them. She couldn't believe it. She never thought in a million years that she would actually have feelings for Shadow The Hedgehog.

 **Author's Note: So I know I've been flipping from Side A which is the Chaotix's side story and Side B which is Acorn Kingdom's story. The next few chapters will be telling from Side B's perspective. So all next week the upcoming chapters will mostly revolve around Shadow, Sonic, and Sally. But I'm sure you guys won't mind right? lol But anyway, it appears that Sally does indeed have strong feelings for Shadow. But will Shadow ever return his feelings? Hmm! Tune in next week to find out what's gonna go down in the next chapter!**

 **And I do wanna take this time to thank all of you guys for your kind reviews and messages! I'm really happy that you guys are loving this story so much! Feeling so much love and inspiration! So thanks, guys! And see you all during the chapter bomb next week! See you on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Shadow: What the hell is going on? I gotta clear my head...**

 **Sonic: Hey, Mr. Grouchypants!**

 **Shadow: Blue idiot...**

 **Sonic: You're so hilarious! Let's go on an adventure!**

 **Shadow:...What?**

 **Elias: ...Sally?**

 **Sally: Elias, what have I done?**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

Later on, Shadow ventured his way around Knothole Village while his head was clouded with all kinds of thoughts.

It was quite a busy morning with all of the villagers walking around shopping and socializing with each other.

Though he walked through the crowd as if he was the only one there. 'God', he thought. 'What's wrong with me? Me? And Sally? We hated each other a few days ago and now when I see her, I want to slam her against a wall and fuck the shit out of her.' With a slight headache coming on, he placed his hand on his forehead as he slowly walked through the crowd of villagers. 'I need to get my shit together. I'm fucking married to the most beautiful woman I could ever ask for and we worked so hard to raise a family together. I can't just throw what I have away just so I can get my dick wet.' He sighed heavily, 'It's just tension. Sexual tension. Nothing more...' He snapped out of his thoughts and stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar male voice call out to him from afar.

"Hey! Shadow!"

He scanned around him until he saw a familiar blue male hedgehog standing near a food cart.

With what it seemed a hot dog in one hand, he spotted the blue hedgehog waving towards him with a wide smile on his face. "Hey!"

He was both happy yet annoyed to see the blue hedgehog. When he recalled last time seeing him, he had a very outgoing and quite loud personality which he found really annoying. He decided to walk over to the hedgehog to see what he had wanted. "...Sonic?"

"Hey, stranger! Haven't see you since yesterday!" He placed the hot dog near his mouth and took a bite of it. "How you holding up? That robot sure did do a number on you!"

He made an annoyed look. He was sure he was just trying to make him feel inferior since Sonic did in fact save them all from Hao's robot. "I'm fine", he spoke in a bitter tone. "Obviously it didn't kill me."

He carelessly shrugged his shoulders, "Well I guess it's no surprise since Sally did tell me you were some kind of super demon."

Great. Sally did in fact tell Sonic that he wasn't a normal mortal being. But he was shocked that he didn't feel threatened by him. Perhaps Sally talked him up and spoke about how much good he had done despite him being a half demon. He arched an eyebrow, "Sally told you I'm a half demon?"

"...Half demon? Is that what it's called?"

He had hoped that she didn't tell him everything that had happened yesterday. More or less the kiss the two had shared before they were under attack. If that was the case, he would assume Sonic would be way more bitter towards him. "...What else did she say about me?"

"Nothing in particular. You two been work mates for years and you can be grouchy as hell."

He slightly sighed in relief, "...Oh good. Wait...she said I'm grouchy?" He then watched him raise the half eaten hot dog up to him.

"Well it is kinda true. You wanna chili dog? Maybe it'll tone down your grouchy attitude", he teased with a wide smile on his face.

He arched an eyebrow and nudged the hot dog that had chili on it away from him. "Are you crazy? I'm not eating that slop! Especially after when you've had your mouth all over it!" He was never really into eating anything that had meat in it or just meat in general. He realized he couldn't eat a lot of meat without it making him completely sick to his stomach. It would just remind him of the bloodthirsty monster that always lied deep inside of him. Which is why he always leaned towards vegan diets.

He laughed as he witnessed Shadow's reaction. "You're hilarious. No, dude! I was asking if you wanted to try one. I'm buying!"

As he stared at the chili that was piled on top of the hot dog, it couldn't help but to make him feel more and more disgusted by it. "...I'll pass."

He gently nudged his arm. "You sure? You don't know what you're missing", he once again teased.

He rolled his eyes in annoyance and stepped over to another food cart that was nearby and had bought an apple from a villager that was selling it to him. "Trust me", he replied blandly. "I can't be missing out on that much."

Sonic followed alongside him while Shadow continued to stroll through the busy village. "Well aren't you just full of sunshine", he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Wonder where Sally found a fun guy like you at?"

His eyes flashed over to his, "Don't be stupid. We're just teammates. Besides I'm married..." He spoke bitterly before taking a bite of his apple.

A small laugh had escaped him, "Yeah I know. She already told me. Still it was a pretty easy assumption."

He arched an eyebrow towards him. "...How so?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Come on. By the way she was crying over you when you got hurt. She looked like she really cared about you, dude."

His eyes slightly shifted away from him as he recalled how worried she was when he had gotten hurt. It made him feel even more like an asshole knowing that she did in fact care a lot about him.

"Besides, you know she has an apparent thing for hedgehogs..."

His heart skipped a beat as he suddenly remembered what had happened before he fell unconscious yesterday. Sally mentioned that she and Sonic had history together. Very close history. And everything was now making sense. Maybe Sonic was somewhat jealous over him? He could only imagine what was going through his head when he saw the two together and saw how caring and protective she was over him yesterday. He turned back to him, "Before I went unconscious, you did mention something about you being her ex?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah Sally and I go way back. We grew up together actually."

"...Really?" They knew each other since childhood. It was apparent they were a lot closer than he thought.

He again made a nod, "Yup!"

"But mind me asking why you two broke up in the first place?"

He took another bite of his chili dog and began to talk while chewing. "She dumped me because she said I was immature. Can you believe that?"

He then watched as he shoved the remainder of his chili dog into his mouth. A sweat drop formed on the side of his head. "You? Immature? No way" he spoke in a bland and sarcastic tone.

He laughed under his breath, "I know right! But it's cool I guess. Not long after that, she ended up moving to Future City. I suppose she moved on to bigger and better things..." He spoke as he flashed his eyes over to him.

He knew that Sally obviously didn't tell him about what happened between the two but he couldn't shake the feeling that Sonic knew something was up anyway. He just wanted to just assume that he was only simply jealous of him and thought the two were seeing each other nonetheless.

He slowly and sadly took his eyes away from him, "She's happy where she is and who she's with if she's found anyone...that's all that matters..."

When he saw the slight sadness in his expression, he had knew that Sonic clearly still had feelings for Sally. He suddenly got the idea if he could somehow reunite the two back together, it would get Sally off his back and everything would go back to being somewhat normal. He stopped in his tracks and spun around to him. "And when she left, you just let her go? Why didn't you chase after her?"

With Shadow's sudden change of attitude, he took a step back with unease. "Wha? What?"

He grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him slightly, "Didn't you love her at all? Do you even believe in love damn it!"

As he became more and more uneasy with Shadow's sudden outburst, a sweat drop appeared on the side of his head, "Goddamn...of course I loved her. I still do in all honesty but last time I checked, it takes two people to love each other and Sal...well...she completely changed. She turned super serious and bitter about everything. It was...it was almost as if she didn't even feel any sort of emotions at all."

He took his hands away from his shoulders and thought that this was sounding all too familiar. As he recalled, Elias had relayed him the same story. He couldn't help but to wonder what actually happened with Sally before she left Acorn Kingdom?

"Anyway enough about the past. I'm actually glad I ran into you."

He began to finish up the remainder of the apple he was eating. He was so confused by Sonic's mood towards him. He didn't know if he had hated him or liked him. "Why is that?"

"Well before I met up with you and Sal yesterday, I was trying to scope out some areas where Hao could be lounging around in. Was wondering if you wanted to tag along? That is if you're up for it?"

It was sudden but this was exactly what he needed. A day away from the castle so he could actually gather his thoughts. "Are you kidding? Any where's better than being cooped up in the castle", he spoke as he tossed the apple core into a nearby trashcan.

He placed his hand on his shoulder and formed a wide smile. "Shadow, my friend! You're definitely speaking my language!"

He casually took the blue hedgehog's hand off of his shoulder. "...Don't do that."

Back at the castle, Sally aimlessly ventured around the large and empty halls of the castle while she was lost in her thoughts. With her arms crossed in worry, she slowly walked through the halls. Her eyes shifted down to the red carpet of the floor. 'God what's wrong with me? Shadow? Shadow The Hedgehog? The half demon?' She stopped in her tracks as she thought about the heated and passionate kiss the two had shared earlier that morning. She gently placed her fingers to her lips while a slight blush forming on her face, 'He's married to Rouge. I know this but...why does my heart race every time I see him? I hated him before. Now I think I might...' She shook her head and placed her hand on her forehead. 'Damn it, Sally! No! Just no! Stop thinking like this! Get him out of your head!' She paused when she came to the door that led into the book room. She placed her hand on the handle and stepped inside of the room just knowing that the room would be empty but as soon as she stepped in and closed the door behind her, she was wrong. She looked over across the room and saw Elias sitting at a small table reading a black hardcover book.

He was dressed in causal wear. He was wearing a red long sleeve turtleneck shirt, black fitted jeans, and black boots. When he heard the door to the room opening and closing, he took his eyes away from the book he was reading and turned to Sally who stood at the doorway of the room. "Oh, Sally? There you are. I've barely seen you all morning." He watched as she slowly started to approach him. "How are you feeling from yesterday? I hope you slept decent."

She carelessly shrugged her shoulders, "I slept like a rock but you know. Still feeling pretty drained."

He leaned his back against the brown wooden chair he had sat in. "I suppose so. You and Shadow both had quite the day yesterday. I'm glad you're okay though. Thank God for your ex boyfriend showing up to save the day...again." He was already aware of Sonic always casually showing up to help him and the rest of the Freedom Fighters whenever they had needed it.

She made a nod, "Yeah well that's Sonic for you."

"Speaking of hedgehogs, have you seen Shadow? I haven't seen him all morning. I meant to see how he was doing."

Even hearing his name, her heart skipped a beat. "...He's fine."

He arched an eyebrow as he found it hard to believe that was actually doing well. "Really? Cause he was a bloody mess yesterday..."

"He's fucking fine, Elias", she snapped in a low tone.

He arched an eyebrow from her sudden attitude. It appeared that she had gotten touchy about the subject of Shadow but he figured it was because the two had gotten into another disagreement. So he tried not to think too much of it. "Okay I'll take your word for it. Geez..." He had then observed her wearing her usual work attire. He crossed his arms and gave her an annoyed look. "No dress today?"

She had given him the same annoyed look in return, "It needs to be washed. It's covered in blood", she spoke bitterly.

"You know damn well you have like a hundred dresses in your bedroom."

She sighed heavily and pulled out the chair that was set next to him around the table. "Not feeling much like a princess today, Elias."

He paused as he observed her worried and saddened expression. "...You've been acting strange since yesterday. You okay, Sal?"

She slowly shifted her eyes from his and looked down at the white tiled floor. She slightly bit her lip as she thought she should actually tell him what was exactly on her mind. "...If I tell you, you promise you won't tell anyone?"

He took his back from against the chair he leaned against and leaned against the table to get close to her. "Come on, Sal. I'm your big brother. You can tell me anything."

"...Okay", she took a deep breath and turned back to him. "It's...about me and Shadow..."

"...What? Did you two really get into it?" He had then saw her hesitating on continuing and it had worried him "...Did he...hurt you? Because I don't care if you two hate each other. If he's laid a hand on you, I'll fuck him up! I don't care what kind of super demon he is! I'll kick his fucking ass!"

He was already overreacting and he was making his own assumptions. She decided to go ahead and tell him before he really got upset over nothing. She shut her eyes tightly as she suddenly blurted her words out to him. "We kissed!"

The room they were in was suddenly filled in awkward silence. It was so silent, they could hear the birds chirping outside of the large window that was set behind them.

With a shocked yet confused expression on his face, Elias leaned his back against the chair in disbelief and crossed his arms as he tried to take in what had escaped from Sally's lips. "...You...what?"

"We...kissed each other..."

He placed a finger to his chin as he was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on. "...But you both hate each other?"

She slightly shook her head and clasped her hands together in her lap, "We made up. We're friends now."

He angrily made a nod towards her, "Oh yeah. You're both friends alright."

She could tell from the tone of his voice that he was not the least bit happy about the situation. "Elias..."

"Did you fuck him?"

"Wha? No we just kissed. I swear." Of course there was a few hand gestures here and there but none the less, their clothes stayed on.

He had then made a long pause, "Sally, he's married. I think he has a son too?"

"I...I know..."

"You're fucking around with a married man? That's...that's adultery!"

She didn't like how this was going at all. She was starting to regret telling him about what happened. She went to him for support. Not to get yelled at. "You're acting like we fucked and we didn't!"

"It doesn't matter if you fucked or not! You know this shit is all kinds of wrong!"

She placed her hand on her forehead and sighed heavily, "Christ..."

All kinds of thoughts and images were going through his head. When did this exactly happen? How did this happen? How long were they seeing each other? Were they still doing things with each other? "Are you two still..."

She slightly shook her head, "No. We actually got into it this morning about it. That's why he's not here in the castle. To get away from me..."

He couldn't believe that this was happening between the two and it was obviously effecting their already rocky friendship. "Goddamn it, Sally..."

"I know that what we did was wrong but...I don't understand. Why do I feel this way about him?"

He sighed heavily, "Look Sally, I can't tell you how to live your life but I'm saying this because I'm your brother and I want what's best for you. And you...having 'feelings' about someone who is supposedly spoken for...you don't wanna go there." He stood from his chair and slammed the book he was reading shut. "But hey if you two wanna fuck, then by all means." He pointed out towards the window behind him, "But once you two go back to Tech City, it could take weeks, months, maybe even years but shit will hit the fan and his family will fall to complete shit all because you two wanted to fuck around one good time."

She bit her lip and had to agree that his harsh words were in fact making sense. Would it be worth it if they did decide to take it that far?

"Think about it, Sal", he spoke in a firm tone. "Do yourself and him a favor and just stay away from him."

She had then watched as he stormed out of the room leaving her alone in her thoughts.

 **Author's Note: And here it is! All week long new chapter updates will be posted! So exciting! But oh wow! Sonic and Shadow formed quite the friendship huh? And Sally tried to confide in Elias for help and he is not the least bit happy! Wonder if he and Shadow will now have problems? And what kind of adventure is Sonic and Shadow in for? Find out in the next chapter being posted tomorrow! See you guys on the flipside! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Sonic: Haha! Come on, Shadow! Why are you so slow?**

 **Shadow: What a show off...**

 **Sonic: Yeah! Adventure!**

 **Sally: ...Shadow?**

 **Shadow: I never wanted to hurt you, Sal...**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Acorn Kingdom, Sonic rushed his way up the ledges of a huge mountain that was set high in the sky. When he got to the top of the mountain, he stood on the dry and dusty ground and inhaled the fresh and crisp air while the wind mildly blew through his blue quills. He stretched out his arms in excitement as he observed the large and windy plain out in front of him. "Ah! Nothing beats a little mountain climbing and fresh air, eh Shadow?" He paused as he waited for a reply but he heard nothing. He turned around and still saw saw no sight of him. "Shadow?"

"Down here!"

When he heard the familiar voice, he walked over to the ledge of the cliff he had climbed up and looked down spotting the black and red hedgehog who had slowly made his way up to the ledge. "Why are you still down there?"

He frowned as he made his way up the mountain along with Sonic. "Because news flash, I'm not as fast as you!"

He watched as he began to walk across the windy plain. He started to follow behind him. He shrugged his shoulders, "My bad. I thought you had some kind of demon super speed."

He slightly turned his head to him and arched an eyebrow, "What? No! I don't have any kind of super speed. The thing remotely close to that is my Chaos Control ability."

Sonic arched his eyebrow in interest. "...Chaos Control?"

He began to explain while he continued to make his way across the large and windy plain, "It's a power that I can use to stop time."

He couldn't believe it. Shadow harnessed powers such as that? He wondered what other abilities he had. "Wha? That's so cool!"

"I can only use it when I'm using my demonic attributes at a hundred percent."

He placed a finger to his chin. "Sounds pretty neat. But I take it you don't use your demon powers at a hundred percent very often?"

He slightly shook his head, "No not often."

He slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion, "But why not? I bet you're a complete badass at a hundred percent!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to him with a serious look on his face. "Trust me. You don't want to see me at a hundred percent..."

Before he could ask him what he meant, the mild wind that was blowing around them had gotten fiercer.

Shadow had looked back around the seemingly empty but very windy valley in front of them. "Goddamn! Why is it so fucking windy here?"

Sonic tried to reply back to him while trying to talk over the strong wind. "This place is called Windy Valley for a reason!"

He turned back to him in confusion, "Windy Valley?"

"Yeah! This place has a lot of high wind! Even tornadoes on some occasions!"

Once the wind had died down, Shadow realized he didn't have to practically shout at him to talk to him. "Tornadoes? What the hell kind of place did you bring us?"

He placed his hands on his hips, "Hey you want info on Hao or not?" He began to walk forward, "Come on!"

Before he could say anymore, he watched as he rushed forward ahead of him. With him running so fast, he saw nothing but a blue blur running across the windy plain. He then saw him jump onto another ledge within the valley. He crossed his arms and growled lowly under his breath. "He's such a show off." He finally caught up to him and stood below the ledge where Sonic was standing. He looked up at him and shouted towards him. "See anything?"

Sonic scanned around the seemingly deserted valley, "I know I've seen it somewhere..." His eyes widened when they caught sight of a strange robotic like device that was floating in mid air in the distance. He pointed in its direction, "There!"

Shadow's ears perked up as he heard him shout out. "What?" He watched as Sonic looked back down at him.

"Come on, Shadow! Follow me!"

Before he could say anything, he watched as Sonic jumped down to him and suddenly ran off to where he saw the strange floating object. While in the form of a blue blur, Shadow saw him making his way further into the valley. He sighed in annoyance as he began to make his way following behind him. He murmured under his breath, "Can't believe Sally fucked his stupid ass..."

Before the strange floating object could proceed any further, Sonic had launched himself off the side of a ledge and sprung himself into the air. Once he got close to the strange device, he extended his leg and sent a powerful kick causing it to be knocked out of the sky.

Shadow watched as Sonic attacked the strange device and saw him standing in front of it while it was down on the ground. He ran over to him so he could observe it as well. He rose an eyebrow as he stared at it.

The device was at a decent size. It was about the size of some of the boulders and rocks that was scattered around the valley. It was made completely out of metal. It also had a blank green screen on the front of it. It almost had looked like some type of monitor.

Shadow leaned slightly closer to it. "What is it?" He then saw Sonic kneeling over and completely picking it off of the ground. "Sonic! What the hell are you doing?"

As Sonic held the strange device in his hands, he continued to observe it.

Shadow continued to panic, "You don't know what that thing is! Put it down before it explodes or something!"

He turned to the worried black and red hedgehog with a teasing look on his face. "Calm down will ya? Geez are all you half demons this paranoid?"

He couldn't help but to narrow his eyes towards the blue hedgehog. He knew that Sonic wasn't afraid of exploring or being the first to react to something. But Shadow always approached things with caution and reasoning.

"Besides", Sonic drew his attention back at the device he had held. "I kicked it pretty hard. And it seems pretty harmless."

He placed a finger to his chin, "Well yes. It appears so. But wonder what it was doing?"

Sonic slightly shook his head, "Not sure." A thought had then came to him. He looked away from the device and snapped his fingers. "Oh I have an idea!" He turned back to Shadow, "Tails may know what this thing is! I'll run it over to his workshop and we can get the info on whatever this thing is!"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders and didn't have any other brighter ideas. He took in consideration with Sonic's suggestion. "Why not? I mean it's worth a shot." His eyes stared at the strange device Sonic had held in his hands. "Maybe this will lead us one step closer to bringing down Hao."

Later on that night, Sally had wandered around the castle hall while she was deep in thought about what had happened during the past couple of days. The halls were empty and practically pitch dark. It was late so she figured everyone within the castle was asleep.

She couldn't help but to keep thinking about Shadow. She hadn't seen him since earlier that morning. Despite what had happened between the two, she still couldn't help but to worry about him. She had hoped that he was okay. She stopped in her tracks when she approached the door of the library. It was crazy. Whenever she thought of a library, she thought of books. Whenever she thought of books, she thought of Shadow. God it was bad. Even a simple book had reminded her of him. When she stepped closer to the door, she heard a voice. It was a male voice. It sounded familiar. It was Shadow's. It sounded like he was talking to someone but who? She slowly placed her hand on the doorknob and cracked the door open cautiously. She slowly and easily peeked her head inside of the room. She now clearly heard Shadow's voice.

"I hope you're behaving yourself for your mother."

Her ears perked up as she heard a baby giggling and laughing. With him not knowing she slowly stepped inside of the room and stood by the door within the dark library. Once she carefully shut the door behind her quietly, her eyes caught sight of Shadow sitting at a small table with a dim table lamp setting at the center of the table.

He had a book laying open in front of him but he was directing his attention to his phone that was being propped up in front of him. A small and warm smile formed on his lips as he stared at the screen of his phone. "Heh, I love you too, Spike. Put your mother back on."

Her body couldn't help but to slightly shake nervously as she witnessed what was going on. He was on a video call with Rouge and his son. Her eyes slightly widened as she heard a woman softly giggling over the speaker of the phone.

"As you can see, your son misses you a lot."

He made a small nod, "I miss you both. More than you know."

"Same here, hun. How's everything going by the way?"

When he heard a slight breathing over near the doorway, his eyes flashed over to Sally who stood there and seemed like she had saw a ghost. He had given her the same look in return but quickly turned away from her and looked back at the screen of his phone. "...Uh everything's fine."

"Well that's good to hear, hun. You think you'll be coming home soon?"

He slightly shook his head, "I'm...I'm not sure. It's not looking likely."

"That's too bad", she spoke in a saddened tone. "I miss you so much, baby."

His eyes flashed back over to Sally before he looked back at the screen of his phone. "...I miss you too, hun." He decided to go ahead and end the call before Sally had decided to speak out towards him. The last thing he needed was for Rouge to hear Sally talking with him in a dark room and so late at night. "But anyway I'm tired. I had a long day. I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Okay, Shad. I love you."

"I love you too, Rouge. Goodnight, baby."

"Goodnight, hun."

As soon as he turned the screen off of his phone, in annoyance he turned his head over to Sally who was slowly approaching him. "Really? Do you fucking mind?"

She figured he would be irritated by her basically showing herself in and especially when he was having a private call with his wife. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude..."

He sighed heavily as he became slightly frustrated. But he knew that she was probably concerned for him as she hadn't seen him all day. He tried to calm himself a bit, "...It's fine. What do you want anyway?"

"I haven't seen you all day. I was wondering if you were okay."

He slightly shook his head. He tried to act like he was fine but in reality he wasn't. His mind and thoughts were a frazzled mess. "I'm fine. I just..." When his eyes locked with hers, he knew that whatever what was going on with them had to end. He looked over at the empty chair that was set next to him. "...We need to talk, Sal."

She made a small nod before taking a seat next to him, "...Yeah I think we do."

There was a long pause before he said anything again. He slightly leaned against the table and locked his eyes with hers. "Sally, I'm going to be straight with you."

She made a small nod without taking her eyes away from him. Her heart raced a mile a minute. What was going to happen? What was he going to say? Whatever it was, she had a bad feeling about it.

"God where do I begin? When we first met, I knew you and I were gonna have problems. You fucking despised me. You hated me. You wanted me dead. But suddenly...back in The Field of Mylaria, I didn't feel any of that from you. It was both strange and warm. Having you as no longer my enemy but now my ally after all this time has made me feel so accepted."

She was happy about this as well. The hateful tension they both shared had finally died and now the two were finally equal with each other. They accepted each other for who they were.

"It feels good knowing that Luke and now you both have my back on The Council. I have allies. I have friends." It was a great feeling. If something serious were to happen on The Council, he knew that Sally and Luke would support him all the way.

She made a slight nod with a small smile on her face.

"But what we both did back in The Field of Mylaria..." He slowly shook his head, "...This morning in the bedroom...I don't need that to happen again."

The small smile on her face couldn't help but to slowly fade from her lips and her eyes had had slowly shifted from his. It was indeed heartbreaking to hear especially when she apparently had feelings for him. But he was right. What they did wasn't right and she couldn't help but to feel guilty for having such feelings and desires for him while knowing he was with someone else.

He slightly sighed as he could tell that Sally didn't exactly like what she was hearing from him. But he wanted to be forward with her. He wanted to give her honesty. "Sally, in all honesty, I won't lie and say I don't find you fucking attractive but that's all this is. It's just tension."

She slowly looked back at him with a hurtful look in her eyes, "...So...if we did sleep with each other...it would just..." Saying what she wanted to say was so hurtful, she couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. She didn't want to believe that he would have sex with her and go on with his life like nothing ever happened. But that's exactly what he was saying.

God he felt awful. He didn't know if it was best to keep things simple by telling her that he was married and left it as that? Or tell her how he really felt about her? "...That's why I didn't want us to go further. I didn't want to hurt you, Sally..."

He didn't want to hurt her, but the damage had already been done. She didn't want to admit it but she had such strong feelings for him. Everything was moving so fast. If she could go back to hating him as fast as she fell for him, things would be so much easier for her it seemed. But things weren't that simple.

He slowly nodded his head, "I know. I'm a piece of shit for saying this, but yes. I maybe a half demon but also still a man. I'll think some fucked up shit. Hell, I'll do some fucked up shit. And I'll make mistakes..." He placed his hand lightly on his chest, "Because like every normal mortal being, I'm not perfect..."

She made a slow nod. Despite him being brutally honest, she did have to agree that no one in the world was indeed perfect.

"But what was going to happen between us...it's never going to happen. I have a wife. I have a family. And I love them so much. I wouldn't trade what I have for anything in the world. I'm sorry, Sally..."

She made a slight nod, "No I totally get it. You and Rouge have something special together. And I wouldn't want to cause anymore trouble with your marriage. I'm sorry for everything..."

"Please, Sal. Don't fucking apologize", he spoke as he slowly shook his head. "It was me. I should've had more control over the situation. I hope I didn't hurt you, Sal."

She couldn't help but to slightly bit her lip. She had to put on a face saying that everything was fine and she never had any sort of feelings for him. When in reality, she was heartbroken. She understood the situation but everything still hurt. She tried her best to not show it though.

"I hope we can still be friends?"

A small and faint smile appeared on her lips. "Of course, Shadow."

He had given her the same small smile in return. "Great", he stood from his chair and closed the book that was laying open in front of him. He looked over to her one last time, "And Sal? Let's just pretend none of this ever happened."

She made a long and hesitant pause before she made a weak nod while he was already leaving out from the library, "...Yeah...sure..."

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Freya: Whoa...what the hell is going on?**

 **Risa: Freya!**

 **Freya: Risa...what's happening?**

 **Risa: They're dead! They...they ate them!**

 **Freya: No...**

 **Scourge: ...Luke?**

 **Luke: Hello, Scourge...**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

Blue and red lights flashed and loud sirens filled the quiet and early morning within the small neighborhood of Tech City. The neighborhood had almost everyone standing outside their homes and were gathered at the front of a two story home that had police tape surrounding the home. Gossiping and crying were heard from within the crowd of people.

Freya was on her way walking to work until she heard the commotion going on across the street from where she had walked. She looked over and saw police cars, ambulances, and the crowd of people gathered in front of a home. She had murmured under her breath, "...What the hell?" She decided to check out the situation. As she walked closer to the scene, her eyes slightly widened as the home everyone were gathered in front of had seemed familiar. It was indeed familiar. It was the home of Risa's neighbors, Ann and Joe. "Oh no..." Her pacing had gotten faster as she approached the scene. She began to fight her way through the crowd until she got to the front of the home. While she stood behind the police tape, her eyes wandered over to a woman rabbit cop. She had seemed familiar. She was indeed. The cop was none other than Bunnie Rabbot. She was the chief of the Tech City Police Department and also Sarah Wish's trusted assistant. "...Bunnie?"

The brown rabbit woman spun around to turn to Freya after she had called out to her. She walked over to the red ferret woman. "...Huh?" She placed her hands on her hips as she began to remember the familiar ferret girl. "Oh! Hey you're Shadow's new mech specialist. Freya right?"

She made a nod as she recalled seeing her. It was awhile ago but she remembered that she had seen her at the meeting where all of the detective teams met up for the first time.

"Ah well I wish we could've met up at a less hectic time."

"What's going on?" Before Bunnie could reply to her, her eyes caught sight of a stretcher that had slowly exited the house and made its way to a nearby ambulance. "...What happened?"

Bunnie made a long pause and shifted her eyes from hers. "Another home homicide..."

"...Homicide?"

She made a small nod.

She didn't want to believe what was happening. "What? No! I knew these people! They were my friend's neighbors! Bunnie! Wha-What happened to them?"

She saw how upset Freya was becoming and was unsure if she wanted to tell her all of the details of what had happened. "Freya..." Her ears perked up when she heard another woman crying and screaming as another stretcher came out of the house and began to make its way towards the ambulance.

"No! Why did this have to happen? This isn't fair!"

She shifted her eyes back over to Freya and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Hold on, Freya."

Freya watched as Bunnie slowly took her hand from her shoulder and started to make her way over to the screaming woman while two other officers had held her back. As she listened to the crying woman's voice, she knew that she sounded familiar. She again fought her way through the crowd and made her way over to the crying woman. Her heart sank as her eyes fell upon a female yellow lemur who was struggling to get her wrist free from one of the police officer's grip.

Tears streamed down her face as she continued to struggle, "Why? Why is this happening?" She screamed.

"...Risa?"

The lemur had suddenly stopped struggling and turned to Freya who was standing next to her. "...Freya?" When the officer saw her calming down, he released her wrist from his grip. Once she took a step closer to her, she leaned her body against hers and hugged her tightly with tears continuing to stream down her face. "Oh, Freya!"

She held her in a comforting embrace with tears slowly swelling in her eyes as well. Seeing Risa like this couldn't help but to make her cry as well. "Risa? What's going on?"

"Ann", she sobbed. "And Joe! They're dead!"

Her hands shook slightly as she held onto her. "...Dead?"

"They ate...they ate them..." She murmured as she sobbed. She laid her head onto her chest as she continued to sob, "Declan...oh God. Declan..."

A tear fell from her face as she forced Risa to take her head from her chest. "...They? Who did this, Risa?"

"The demons..." She replied in a low and hoarse voice before she leaned her wet face against her shirt once again and continued to cry.

While Risa continued to sob, she held her in her arms and stared at the two paramedics who came out of the house with something wrapped in a small black body bag. Her legs slightly shook and more tears fell from her face as she stared at the body bag that contained the dead child's body inside.

Meanwhile at the abandoned orphanage, there was a large room that was full of many small beds. The room was dim and dreary. The only light within the room had came from the one window that was at the end of the room. The sunlight peeked from the halfway closed curtains and shined onto Fiona who was laying in one of the beds. Even though the ray of sunlight had touched her sleeping face, she still didn't even stir. She slept peacefully with her head laying on the soft white pillow.

Soon a sudden small yet tired moan had escaped her. With her still slowly waking from her sleep, she had slightly gripped the bed sheets and slightly bucked her hips within the white bed sheets. She tilted her head slightly back against the pillow and allowed a pleasurable moan to escape her lips. There was a wet and pleasurable sensation taking place under the sheets. It drove her wild and the feeling she felt, made her feel amazing. She just knew that she was having a pleasurable dream. She slightly opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling and slowly scanned around the room. She knew where she was. She indeed wasn't dreaming but the pleasurable sensation from below her didn't stop. Once she felt it suddenly stop, she slightly heaved her chest and watched as a familiar male green hedgehog poke his head out from under the sheets and laid his naked body on top of hers.

A sly look had appeared on his face as he seductively licked his lips. "Good morning, Fi."

A small smile formed on her lips as she looked over at him. "Good morning to you too."

He rested his chin on her bare chest. "How'd you sleep, babe?"

A small laugh had escaped her, "Like a princess."

"That's good, baby", he spoke in a soft tone.

"Heh, other than you going to town on me down there, what's on your agenda for today?"

An evil smirk had formed on his face, "You know...The Black Shield's been on my mind for awhile. I kinda miss them. Maybe I should pay them a much needed visit..."

She knew exactly what he meant. As she recalled, he had been telling her recently that he had wished he had all of his weapons with him. She had given him a sly look. "You just wanna get your shit out of that vault don't you?"

He made a slight nod. The weapon vault. It was the vault located within the agency that always stored the team's top notch weapons. "Hell yeah. What's a proper weapon specialist without his shit? And if I'm lucky, maybe I'll run into my old team leader. We got a lot of shit to catch up on."

"Oh I bet", she spoke in a menacing tone.

"Yeah but first..." He took his chin off of her chest and leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm gonna finish what I started and fuck the shit out of you."

"Oh, Scourge..." she spoke in a soft tone before she pressed her lips against his. She had then felt his tongue softly licking her lips begging for an entrance. When she allowed his tongue to slip inside and explore her mouth, she felt his hands traveling around her bare and naked body.

He took his mouth from hers and traveled his lips to her neck and began to work his way downwards.

Fiona's small moans had then turned into small gasps as she felt his soft and moist tongue licking and flicking at her already moist opening. "Ah...fuck, Scourge..."

The young white rabbit girl's ears twitched and her eyes widened as she witnessed what was taking place in the room with Fiona and Scourge. She stood out in the hallway while looking into the room while the door was slightly cracked. A small blush formed on her face, "Oh my..."

"Angel? What the hell are you doing?" A sudden male voice had spoken.

Startled slightly from the voice, she spun around to turn to a gray male fox who had held a white mug full of coffee in his hand. "Lu-Lu!"

He slightly leaned over to the door. "What's going on?"

Her face had gotten even redder as she realized that she was caught. "Uh...um..."

Luthor's eyes peeked into the room and saw Fiona having her body set on top of Scourge's and riding his member vigorously. He took his eyes away from the two who were sharing an intimate moment together and turned back to Angel. "...Why are you watching them fuck?"

With her face still red, she nervously began to fiddle with her fingers, "I was just curious..."

"...Angela, you never..."

Her face had gotten redder as she had gotten even more embarrassed. "So what if I've never mated before? Big deal!"

He arched an eyebrow, "I never said I'd make fun of you for it. It's just strange considering you're older than me and you haven't mated before." It was strange but yes despite how young she had appeared, Angel was actually much older than he was.

"Well maybe I'm saving myself for someone special!" She turned away from him and continued to watch Scourge and Fiona make love to each other. A small yet warm smile formed on her lips. "Maybe...just maybe...Darkness-san will mate with me."

Luthor practically spit out the coffee from his mouth, "Wha-what? Darkness?" While he continued to give her an unbelievable look, Angel had happily watched as Scourge and Fiona continue to make love to each other.

Later, Freya was at Risa's house trying to comfort her after the events that had taken place earlier that morning. She stepped into the living room with two glass mugs that were full of coffee in her hands. She turned to Risa who was sitting on the gray sofa.

Risa sat on the sofa while clenching a small dark blue pillow in her hands while she stared mindlessly at the news on the television that was set in the far corner of the living room.

Freya turned to the television and saw that the news was talking about what had happened with Risa's neighbors. She placed the two mugs of coffee down onto the small table that set in front of the sofa and grabbed the remote. She pointed the remote to the television and turned it off. She slowly turned to Risa and placed the remote back down on the table. "That's enough news today don't you think?"

Risa shifted her eyes over to the red ferret who had sat down on the sofa next to her. "...Shouldn't you be at work?"

She carelessly shrugged her shoulders, "I told Captain Espio about what happened and he said it'd be cool if I chilled with you for the rest of the day." She took her mug of coffee off of the table and took a sip of it. "You know? To make sure you're okay." She placed the mug of coffee back down on the table. "After all, with everything that happened, you were only a few houses away..." Her eyes slowly shifted down to the floor, "If those demons broke in and killed you...I don't know what I'd do..."

"I hate them..."

Her ears perked up in confusion from her sudden words, "Huh?"

She slightly clenched her fingertips into the pillow she held harder. "Demons. They're all just bloodthirsty monsters. All of them!"

Well yeah Freya herself wasn't fond of demons either but there were some that were actually on their side. "Uh...hold on, Risa..."

"I know what you're going to say. All demons except Shadow and Ker. Right?"

"...Well yeah."

She flashed her eyes over to her, "I know. They're good demons. They have souls. Right?"

She made a small nod. She heard the tone of her voice and she just sounded more and more angry.

"Well Freya, have you ever thought about how they were before? What happened before Ker joined the Chaotix? What happened when everyone found out Shadow was a demon?"

It did in fact cross her mind but it was a slight thought. The way Shadow and Ker were, they both couldn't have been that bad. Could they?

"Just you watch! All it takes for them to snap if they drink another demon's blood right?"

That's what they were told anyway. The only way Shadow and Ker would become an actual threat again would be if they drank another demon's blood. "But that won't happen..."

"Oh come on, Freya! Haven't it once crossed your mind how many people they've killed? How many people they've...eaten..." She couldn't help but to slightly become sick from the thought of it.

She placed her hand over her mouth in horror as she began to think her words over. Just exactly how bad were Shadow and Ker? Who were they truly?

"Mark my words, Freya", she spoke in a firm and threatening tone. "You'll see...Ker and your so called boss, Shadow The Hedgehog. Can't be trusted..."

Shocked by her words, Freya sat there on the sofa and stared at Risa who was angrily looking away from her.

It was later on that night and The Black Shield headquarters was almost pitch black and silent. Scourge quietly and swiftly made his way through the agency. He swung the door down to the basement open. He slowly made his way downstairs and found the light switch to the large basement on the wall. Once he turned the lights on, he glanced around the large basement that had a books and papers laying around on desks and counters. He slightly sighed with a small smile on his face, "Home sweet home..." His eyes scanned the room until he saw a huge silver vault that was on the other side of the weapon's room. He laughed deeply under his breath. "Ah there she is..." He started to approached the vault.

He saw the back of a black desk chair setting in front of the fault. However, he thought nothing of it. When he stepped closer and closer, he started to extend his hand out towards the vault. A small smirk formed on his lips, "Heh, too easy..." When he got closer to the desk chair, the barrel of a gun was pointed at his face. He froze in his tracks and stared at the end of the barrel. "...What?" He watched as the chair slowly spun around to reveal a male black jackal sitting in the chair and holding his customized hand cannon tightly in his grip.

He had his finger rested securely on the trigger of the gun as he fixed his eyes on the green hedgehog. "Hello, Scourge..."

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! So sorry for the late post of this chapter. My internet went out towards the end of last week. But I finally got it back. Anyway, this was the end of the chapter bomb from last freakin week. And also the next chapter bomb will be the last chapter bomb. So you now what that means right? The last chapter bomb will lead up to the end of the story. So sit tight and get ready! It's gonna be a blast! Anyway see you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Shadow: Elias?**

 **Elias: We need to talk...**

 **Blaze: What's it like where your from?**

 **Shadow: It's nice here. No police sirens, no gunshots, no demons...**

 **Sally: Sonic?**

 **Sonic: I really missed you, Sal...**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

It was early the next morning and Shadow tiredly made his way around the castle as if he was looking for someone. He slowly made his way into the large dining room. He scanned the large and quiet room while he called out, "Sally? You in here?" He then saw Elias' head peeking out from behind a chair he was sitting in at the large dining table.

"Shadow?"

"Oh Elias, it's you." He had closed the door to the room quietly behind him and decided to walk over to the table where Elias had sat at. When he approached him, he saw him casually relaxing with an open book laying in front of him on the table. "Good morning."

Elias couldn't help but to have a slightly bitter look on his face as he looked over at Shadow. After his talk with Sally, he couldn't help but to think negative thoughts about him. "Good morning to you too, Shadow."

Just by the bitter tone of his voice, he figured he was upset about something. He thought that maybe something had upset him earlier in the morning. As he recalled, he was fine while he spoke to him previously from yesterday. He slightly leaned against the table while he stood next to him. "Hey have you seen Sally anywhere?"

He arched an eyebrow towards him, "...Why are you looking for her?"

He once again heard the bitter tone from him but this time it seemed more directed towards him. "Well Sonic and I may have found something that could lead us to Hao. I wanted Sally to come with me to check everything out down at Tails' workshop."

He shifted his eyes down at his book and shut it before he looked back up at him. He crossed his arms and gave him an annoyed look. "My sister went out for the morning."

"Really?" He didn't want to think it but perhaps Sally was still upset over their talk last night and needed some time to herself. He couldn't exactly blame her for going off on her own. He tried to put himself in her situation and think that if he were her, then he wouldn't want to be anywhere around him neither. "Well I guess it's just me and Sonic then." He leaned from against the table and began to walk back towards the door of the room. "Well thanks. I'll see you later."

Elias had then quickly stood from his chair and flashed his eyes over to him. "Don't rush off just yet."

Shadow stopped in his tracks and turned back to Elias in confusion.

He took a step towards him while giving him a serious and somewhat angry expression. "We need to talk."

His heart raced as he feared the topic he wanted to speak on had something to do with him and Sally, but he wanted to play it safe and act nonchalant about it. "...About what?"

He began to walk closer to him while having his arms crossed. "About you...and my sister."

As he thought. It was indeed about him and Sally. He figured Sally had to talk about her situation with someone and of course being the protective big brother he was, Elias invited her with open arms. He slightly shifted his eyes away from his and harshly murmured under his breath, "Damn it, Sally..." He looked back at Elias who impatiently stood before him waiting for immediate answers. He made a slight pause and heavily sighed, "Let me explain..."

He arched an eyebrow, "Explain what? I thought you were married."

"I am...", he replied with a hint of guilt in his tone.

He held his hand out in a confusing gesture towards him. "Okay? So what makes it okay for you to start fucking around with my sister?"

Well he was pissed and he figured from how Sally explained things to him, she clearly made him look like the worst kind of man possible. But he didn't blame her. Even after their talk, he could still tell that she had been hurt. She fell for him hard and he didn't end things sooner than he had wanted to. Things began to spiral out of control until it almost got to the point of them ripping their clothes off and having a passionate session with each other. "Look I don't know what she's been telling you but as far as we've taken it is kissing. No sex."

His angry eyes were fixed onto his. "It doesn't matter if you two didn't have sex. You kissed her! You're still cheating!"

"Look I don't know if she's told you, but we've already talked about this and we both agreed to stop with whatever was going on."

He arched an eyebrow and still had his arms crossed as he put on a face stating that he wanted to believe him but failed to. "So you're not seeing each other anymore?"

He slightly shook his head. "I swear it."

He began to slowly and slightly pace around. "So everything is back to normal then? No more fucking around? No more feelings and shit?"

He paused and thought that as far as feelings went, he didn't love her. He knew how he felt about her. She was nothing more than just a friend and that was that. But he wasn't completely sure how Sally had felt about him on her end.

"What's going to happen when you two go back to Tech City?"

"...What do you mean?"

He stopped his pacing and focused his full attention back to him. "How are you going to face your family? Your wife?"

He slightly bit his lip before he replied back to him. "...I'm not going to."

"What?" Did he hear him correctly? He was going to keep quiet about the situation?

"Rouge won't know what took place between me and Sally. I'll make sure she doesn't."

Just hearing him talk about hiding his situation with Sally only irritated him even more. "So you're going to just hide this from her? You're gonna just fucking lie?"

Now he was just putting words in his mouth. He didn't say anything about lying to Rouge. "It's not lying if she doesn't know anything."

He sighed heavily in irritation, "Shadow, you can't just pretend nothing ever happened between you and Sally. I mean yeah your wife won't exactly be happy about it but hiding this from her? Won't you feel guilty? Every time you look at her, the events that happened here will always haunt you and she's smiling in your face thinking everything is still fine between you two. But in reality it's not."

He remained quiet and slowly shifted his eyes down towards the floor as he listened to his brutal yet reasonable words.

He continued, "Things could always go so much worse. What if she does end up finding out and not by you? And if that happens, you have no option but to tell her the truth. But guess what? You can tell her straight to her face the details of what happened. But she'll deny...deny...deny." He made a slight nod, "You can tell her that you two didn't fuck. But if she hears it from someone else...she'll fucking drag you to the ground with the assumption that you two did a hell of a lot more than just kissing. She won't believe your story and she'll hate you. But hey there's always the scenario that she could forgive you...and that's if she decides to."

With him deep in thought, he continued to stare at the floor. Elias' words were brutal but realistic. He thought over and over what to do with the situation and he thought simply hiding it was the easy way out. He placed his hand on the side of his head and slowly looked back up at him.

He had clasped his hands together and continued to fix his eyes upon Shadow. "Shadow, marriage requires the work between both of you. And honesty between you two is one of the main elements of keeping your relationship strong. And let's face it. What kind of husband. Let alone a man, hides this from someone you claim you love so much?"

He slightly shifted his eyes from him and sighed heavily. There was a small silence in the room until he placed his hands on his hips and made a nod before he looked back over to him. "...Yes you're right. Marriage shouldn't be like that. And Rouge deserves to know what happened between me and Sally."

He made a nod full of relief. He finally had gotten through to him and that's all what he ever wanted and that was for him to realize the mistake he would make if he hid this all from Rouge. "I know it'll be difficult to approach her with such a heavy burden but this is the best route for you guys. Otherwise, you might completely lose her."

"And I don't want that to happen. I love Rouge so much. I wouldn't want to lose her over something such as this."

He again made a nod, "I'm glad you finally realize that." He slowly began to make his way back to the chair he was sitting in at the table. "Anyway, I'll let you carry on with whatever you were doing. If I see Sally, I'll let her know that you were looking for her."

"Thanks." He began to walk out of the dining room while waving goodbye to him. "I'll see you later and...thank you."

He slightly shrugged his shoulders and made a slight smile, "Hey someone's gotta try to keep your ass in check while you're here."

He slightly rolled his eyes before opening the door and closing it behind him as he left.

Later, Sally was walking around the crowded and busy Knothole Village. She figured that she needed to get out of the castle to process her thoughts after talking with Shadow last night. She knew where they both stood with each other. They were simply allies and nothing more was going to come out of it. She had to face facts and just simply move on with her life just as Shadow did. She stopped in her tracks when she heard a young girl calling out to her.

"Princess Sally!"

She spun around and turned to a little brown squirrel girl who appeared around the age of six. She had sparkling light blue eyes and yellow hair that came a little past her shoulders. She wore a blue short sleeve dress and brown flat shoes. She held up a bright yellow flower towards her with a wide smile on her face. "Thank you for protecting our kingdom!"

She paused for a moment as she was completely caught off guard from the girl's kind gesture towards her. She then smiled warmly and kneeled down to her to accept the flower from her. "Thank you."

She made a nod and continued to smile brightly, "You're welcome, Princess!"

When she watched her happily skip away, she held the beautiful yellow flower securely in her hands. 'This...', she thought. She slowly scanned around and watched the rest of the villagers happily enjoy the beautiful morning. 'This is my kingdom. This is what I'm fighting for.' Her thoughts were then interrupted when she heard a familiar male voice call out to her.

"Sal?"

She slowly turned to a male blue hedgehog who had stood behind her with a warm and wide smile on his face.

"Small world running into you here."

She made a small gasp as she gazed upon the blue hedgehog, "Sonic?"

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Knothole Village, Shadow had came to a small home that was set not too far from the village. He stood at the door with a small piece of paper in his hand. He looked at the paper and then back at the door. "I hope this is the right place", he murmured before he began knocking on the door. He waited a few moments before the door had opened. He watched as an orange fox stood at the doorway and greeted him.

"Oh! Hey, Shadow!"

"Hey Tails, long time no see. Is Sonic here?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Sonic isn't here yet, but everyone else is. Come on in!"

While Tails had led him into the house, Shadow had took note of what all was around him.

His house was kind of small but he figured he lived by himself so this was all that he needed. Some things stood out like a few pictures hanging on the walls. Some of the pictures were him in his younger days. He even saw a few pictures of him and Sonic together. He figured that he and Sonic were really good friends.

Tails had then led him to another door of his house and swung it open. Tails stepped into the room and confronted the group who was sitting around in a fairly big garage. "Okay the gang's all here!"

While Tails stepped into the garage, Shadow stood at the doorway and laid his eyes upon no other than the Freedom Fighters.

Silver sat in a wooden chair with Blaze sitting on his lap. He looked up and turned to the black and red hedgehog. He held up his hand in a waving gesture. "Hey, Shadow! It's good to see you again!"

Shadow quietly closed the door behind him and stepped into the garage while he greeted the group in return. "Likewise. I didn't think I'd see you guys here as well."

Mighty was sitting on a black milk crate. "Well Tails said he might've found something interesting about Hao. So here we are."

Tails walked over to his work desk and pointed to the dark green beanbag chair that was set next to Mighty. "Why don't you get comfortable and take a seat, Shadow?"

He carelessly shrugged his shoulders while he walked over to the beanbag chair. "Sure why not?" When he sat down in it, he felt his bottom practically touching the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable chair in the world but nonetheless, it was still a chair. He then saw Amy who was sitting in a black desk chair with wheels making her way over to him.

She smiled widely at him, "Hey, Shadow! Long time no see!"

He slightly narrowed his eyes over to her in annoyance as he recalled the huge crush she apparently had on him. "Oh...hello, Amy."

She had then formed a frown and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh relax! I'm not gonna jump on your dick or anything! Sheesh!"

Blaze couldn't help but to let out a small giggle as she witnessed Amy's reaction.

Silver formed a teasing smile, "When we all leaned that Amy found you attractive, we couldn't stop fucking with her about it."

"Yeah", Mighty added. "Now she gets super embarrassed about it. It's hilarious!"

With her face deep red, she leaned over and stuck out her middle finger towards the group. "Fuck all of you!"

With having his goggles over his eyes, Tails didn't take his eyes away from what he was working on at his work desk. A small smirk formed on his lips, "You know you love all of us."

The flustered pink hedgehog crossed her arms and leaned her back against the desk chair she had sat in. "What the hell ever!"

A slight smile formed on Shadow's lips, "Heh, you guys remind me of my friends back at home."

Blaze placed a finger to her chin, "What's it like where you're from?"

His eyes slightly traveled down to the floor, "It's...it's hella different from how it is here. Everything is slow and quiet here. But back at home, everything is so fast pace and so far advanced." He looked back at the group, "I'll put it to you like this. No one ever gets the time to settle down and appreciate the beauty in things. To me, being here feels like some strange alternate universe. There's no constant gunshots, sirens, no one's face is buried in a phone, and best of all there's no demons..."

Just how Shadow described his home, Silver thought it sounded like a really violent and dangerous place to live in. "So I guess you guys have a real demon problem I take it?"

Shadow made a slow nod as he slightly remembered some of the fights he and the rest of the Chaotix team had encountered whenever it came with dealing with an Almas or a member from The Dark Alliance.

"Sounds scary", Amy spoke in a worried tone.

Mighty had pointed towards the hedgehog, "Speaking of demons, Sally mentioned you were one too?"

He made a small nod while his eyes continued to look down to the floor. "I'm half..."

Silver saw his sudden and saddened expression and he figured that Shadow thought they all had thought less of him when they all found out he was a demon. "Don't worry, Shadow."

Shadow looked away from the floor and back up towards Silver.

"After Sally blew up on you that night, Elias told us about you. So don't sweat it. You're cool with us."

A small yet warm smile formed on his face. Even after their heated discussion from earlier, he knew for certain that Elias was on his side. Despite what was going on between him and Sally. His ears perked up when he heard and saw a few sparks fly from the desk Tails was working on. "What are you working on anyway, Tails?"

The fox spoke while not turning back to him and the group. "I'm taking apart this strange robot Sonic brought to me yesterday. If this is one of Hao's creations, I wanna see what make him tick."

Shadow crossed his arms and formed a small smirk, "So you're like some kind of mech expert huh?"

Tails stopped what he was doing and took his goggles away from his eyes as he turned to him. "Oh I wouldn't say expert."

Shadow slightly scanned around the garage and saw a few strange robotic creations that he assumed were made by Tails. He even caught sight of the strange machine he had operated when he came to aid him, Sally, and Elias when they all had confronted Hao. He pointed towards the machine, "What do you call that thing?"

His eyes caught sight of what Shadow was looking at. "Oh that? That's The Cyclone. It can change from a plane and into a real fighting machine."

Shadow arched an eyebrow as he studied the machine, "It can do all of that? Holy Hell. Talk about talent." He had then turned back to the orange fox, "I bet you would make a great mech specialist."

"Mech specialist?" Tails had repeated blankly.

"It's an occupation status back on The Council", he began to explain. "You see there are six different detective teams that reside on The Council. The detective teams are actually a secret organization that fights demons. Each team has six occupation statuses. There's the leader, captain, secretary, medical specialist, weapon specialist, and mechanical specialist. Sometimes there is field mission specialist depending on the size of the team."

Mighty placed a finger to his chin as he took in all of the information Shadow had given. "Oh so that's how it all works..."

"That sounds so cool!" Amy exclaimed.

Tails couldn't help but to fantasize about the job title, "Me? A mech specialist of an elite group of demon slaying detectives? How awesome would that be?" While he daydreamed about the thought, Mighty waved his hand back and forth in front of his face.

"Um, hello? Mobius to Tails?"

Blaze crossed her arms and formed a slight smile, "Though it does sound like a nice thought of us being apart of something bigger. But..." She turned back to Silver who had his hand gently placed on her waist while she sat on his lap. "This is our home."

Silver made a nod as he agreed, "That's right." He turned to Shadow, "After all, bad shit still happens here too."

"Yeah obviously", Shadow agreed.

Tails had then looked back down at the watch on his wrist, 'I wonder where Sonic is...'

Meanwhile, Sally and Sonic had found themselves in The Field of Mylaria. Sally stood in the middle of the field full of the white luminous flowers while still holding onto the yellow flower that was given to her by the little girl back in Knothole Village. Her eyes fell upon the castle that she had spotted in the far off distance. Her ears perked up when she heard Sonic's voice behind her.

"This place was always so beautiful."

She turned to him and saw him slowly approaching her to stand next to her.

He made a small smile towards her, "We use to come here all the time together. Remember?"

She made a small nod, "Yes I remember." She then saw him suddenly sitting down in the field full of flowers. When she saw him sitting down, she decided to join him by sitting next to him. When she saw him looking out towards the castle, she had done the same.

"You know? It's been so different without you here, Sal."

She turned back to him. "Why is that?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "It's just been so quiet and lackluster. When you left, you took all the fun and adventure with you it seemed."

A sudden bitter look had overcame her face as she turned away from him and looked down. "Funny. Seems everywhere I go, trouble follows."

He turned back to her, "But I'm glad you're back. Everyone missed you. Even me..."

She turned back to him with a look of guilt on her face. It was clear that he still had feelings for her, but due to her situation she didn't know how to exactly feel at the moment. "Sonic..."

"Why did you do it, Sal? Why did you leave the kingdom? Was it...was it because of me?"

Just as she feared, he thought she had hated him when in reality she didn't. "What? No of course not!"

"Then why?"

She had then slightly bit lip as a saddened look had suddenly appeared on her face.

"...Was it...because of your father?"

She turned away from him sadly while she fiddled with the flower she held in her hand. "...After mom died from her illness, I felt like I was never right. My happiness was being stripped from me little by little. And it seemed that everything was just getting worse and worse. The next thing I knew, father had fallen ill. I immediately assumed the worse would happen and I...couldn't bare to be around if that happened."

"...So you left?"

She made a small yet guilty nod.

"But Sally, your father needed you."

She shook her head slowly, "He needed someone strong by his side and I...wasn't strong. I wasn't strong enough to be around him. I was too fragile." She turned back to him, "I had to get stronger. Mentally and physically. And what better way to do it than leave and lead a group of demon slayers? I didn't want to necessarily leave everyone behind but I had to. My father, Elias, you, the kingdom..." Tears began to swell im her eyes, "Princesses are strong and fearless. But I was never like that. I'm not a princess. Just a coward and a failure..."

He formed an uneasy look as he watched Sally spiral deeper and deeper into a depression. "Whoa slow down, Sal. So you were going through a rough time. It doesn't mean go change everything about yourself and build a wall to conceal your actual feelings." He placed a hand to her shoulder and made her turn to him. "I know I always seem like everything is all sunshine and chili dogs but hey I have my own demons to face too. Everyone does."

A tear had fell from her face as she looked at him.

"It's okay to feel the way you do, Sal. But your friends and family...you can't just push them away. They need you. Just as you need them."

"Sonic..." She then saw him take the flower from her hands and place the stem of it in her hair.

"Everyone loves you for you, Sal. The caring, elegant, and beautiful lady of the land that you are." He formed a wide and warm smile, "And no matter how far away you move, you will always be our beloved Princess Sally."

With another tear falling down her cheek, she suddenly leaned over to him and hugged him tightly.

With her suddenly hugging him, it had caught him off guard. But he had then happily returned the hug. "Good to have you back, Sal."

A warm smile formed on her lips while she continued to hug him. "Thank you, Sonic."

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! I know it's been awhile and I do apologize. My life's been super busy and I haven't had much time to sit down and write. But I finally made it back into the game! Now there won't be a chapter bomb posted this week but I'm definitely shooting for one next week. But if anyone wants to keep up with any updates, make sure you check on my Deviantart page for status updates. But anyway thank you guys for being so patient and awesome. The end of the story is near so sit tight! See you guys on the flipside! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Luke: I'll be sure to have your head, Scourge.**

 **Scourge: Don't be so confident, Lucas!**

 **Nicole: I...I can't do this...**

 **Amethyst: She's been so upset with me lately...**

 **Fiona: Well, well what do we have here?**

 **Risa: Monsters...they're all monsters...**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

Scourge stood there while having his eyes staring down the hole of the dark barrel of the gun that was pointed at the center of his forehead. His red eyes slowly shifted over to the the male black jackal who had casually sat in the black desk chair while resting his finger on the trigger of his weapon. "...Luke?"

A small smirk formed on his lips while he locked his eyes upon the stunned green hedgehog who stood in front of him. "Hello, Scourge..."

Before he could even move, he was suddenly blown back by the forceful gunshot from his gun.

Luke watched as blood gushed from the center of his forehead and saw him falling back onto the gray cement floor of the basement. He slowly stood from the desk chair he sat in and calmly approached the hedgehog who laid there on the floor with blood rushing from the gunshot wound from his forehead.

While he laid there on the floor, Scourge felt the burning and searing pain from the gunshot. He placed his hand over his bleeding forehead and groaned loudly. "God damn it! You...you fucking shot me in the head!"

With a calm attitude still on his face, he stopped in his tracks and looked down at the hedgehog who was obviously in pain. "Oh relax. You're immortal now remember? It hurts but it won't kill you."

As much as he hated to admit it but he was right. He was an immortal demon now. It would take more than a gunshot blow to the head to kill him. He watched as he once again pointed the gun towards him.

He firmly held the gun in his hand while he rested his finger on the trigger. "But that doesn't mean I can't make you suffer before I kill you."

Suddenly a small yet evil smirk formed on his lips. "You're awfully confident about killing me."

"Because you'll make it so easy."

The smirk on his lips had slightly widened, "Don't kid yourself, Lucas." He had then took his foot and used it to kick the gun up out of his hand.

When Luke saw the gun flying in mid air, he swiftly and easily caught it and pointed it back at Scourge who had now confronted him with his double barreled magnum pointing straight back at him. The two had stood there in silence while having their weapons pointed at each other.

Luke slightly gritted his teeth as he glared at the hedgehog, "I know why you're here, Scourge. I won't let you get into that vault."

"You've always been so cocky, Luke. We all know you and this team was never shit without me. I've come to take back what belongs to me and that's the shit that's in that vault!"

He took a small step towards him, "You're not getting into that vault! Not over my cold dead body!"

He exposed his fangs within his evil smirk, "Then so be it." He had then pulled the trigger and fired a few shots from his gun.

With his quick movements, he fired his rounds towards his oncoming bullets which had caused the bullets to reflect away from him and hit the wall that was behind Scourge.

When he fired more rounds at him, he watched as he used the long barrel of his gun to slice through the bullets as if it was some sort of blade. He frowned as he watched him easily dodged almost every one of his bullets. "You move just as fast as you did years ago. I'm impressed."

He never bothered to let his guard down and continued to stand in a fighting stance, "Face it, Scourge. I'll one up you every step of the way. After all, I was the one who taught you how to fight."

He scoffed under his breath as he briefly remembered all the times he and Luke had trained with each other. "True but I have something you don't."

He continued to cautiously stay in a fighting stance and never took his eyes from him.

He had then tossed the gun to the floor and held up his hand to slowly clench it into a fist. "Demonic super strength."

In almost the blink of an eye, Scourge had easily and swiftly made his way over to him at an amazing pace. Before he knew it, he was struck in the face by Scourge's powerful punch. The hit was strong enough to knock him away from him. He fell to the floor while dropping his gun as well. Before he had the chance to try to get up, Scourge had gotten on top of him and had his fangs parted. Before he had the chance to try to bite him, he used his hand and held it against his neck to try to hold him back.

Despite him trying to hold him back, he still didn't bother to pull away from him. "I'll fucking kill you, Luke!" He growled loudly.

While he tried to hold him back, he reached inside of the knife holster that was attached to the black belt around his waist with his free hand. He took the end of the knife and stabbed it forcefully into his neck. Once he heard his cries of pain, he took the opportunity to kick him off of his body.

Scourge fell to the floor while trying to pull the knife out of his bloody neck. He growled in low tone, "Damn it..."

When Luke grabbed his gun that was on the floor, he turned back to him who had forcefully took the knife from his neck and threw it back towards him. His eyes widened when he saw the point of the knife coming back in his direction. He quickly shifted his body to the side making the knife strike into the wall behind him. He then focused his attention back over to him while he watched him hold his bleeding neck.

He huffed angrily as his red eyes were locked at the black jackal who stood before him. "Damn you, Luke!"

He once again pointed his gun towards him. "Mark my words, Scourge. I will have your head."

He took his bloodstained hand away from his neck and clenched both his fists tightly, "Good fucking luck!"

He had then began to charge towards him with the barrel of the gun facing outward. When he got close to him, he swung the barrel of the gun close to his arm. So close, it had cut him like a sharp blade.

Scourge glanced at his arm that now had a deep and bloody cut. He knew Luke's weapon was not only a powerful gun but the barrel of it acted as some sort of blade also. While he saw him close to him, he used this to his advantage by punching him hard in the stomach. When he saw him practically kneeling to the floor, he took out a small knife from the inside of his black jacket and stabbed it into the side of his stomach. When he heard his painful groans, he sent a powerful kick down at his lower stomach to knock him back away from him. He watched as he fell to the floor and held his bleeding side from where he had stabbed him. He laughed slightly under his breath, "Your attacks are useless against me. Tricked out gun or not. You won't kill me."

He gritted his teeth while he was in pain and weakly pointed his gun back towards him. He heavily panted under his breath with his hand shaking while holding his gun up at him, "With this bullet, I will damn you into the deepest pits of Hell. Amen..." Once he fired the gun, he watched as the powerful bullet shot into his shoulder. He had then heard Scourge cry out in pain and watched as he held his bloody shoulder and fell to his knees.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to withstand the searing pain from his bullet while he looked down onto the floor. He could feel a great amount of blood soaking his glove while he held his shoulder. 'Damn it! It feels like my arm just got blown off! I should've been able to take that round! What the hell is happening?' He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Luke slowly stepping back over to him. He looked away from the floor and saw him slowly and weakly walking over to him while tightly holding the gun in his grip.

Despite him being in a great deal of pain, a confident smirk had appeared on his lips while he looked down at him. "I bet that hurt like Hell huh?"

He weakly huffed under his breath and angrily glared towards him. "What the hell was that? Your gun shouldn't be able to do that to me."

He slightly arched an eyebrow as he began to explain, "Well with it alone of course it wouldn't have much of an effect on you." He had then aimed the gun at the center of his bloody forehead. "But what can I say? Nothing beats a good old fashioned blessed bullet."

His eyes widened as he began to think about what Luke had just said. 'Of course! How could I forget he can weaken me with blessed weapons. He could fucking bless a stuffed bear and shove it down my throat to burn my insides if he wanted to.'

He rested his finger on the trigger of his gun as he harshly shoved the cold metal barrel against his forehead, "Give up, Scourge. It's over."

His red eyes angrily looked into his. "That's what you think!"

Luke was taken by surprise when he saw him quickly grab the barrel of his gun and bent it upwards with ease. Immediately he knew with how the gun's condition currently was, he couldn't fire it. Otherwise it could be backfire and be a final and fatal move for him.

He stood from the floor and snatched the gun out of his hand and flung it across the room. Before he could allow for him to make any sudden movements, he sent a powerful punch towards the side of his already wounded and bloody stomach.

The impact was so strong, it knocked him back into the concrete wall. He painfully groaned while he felt like he couldn't move while he had his back against the wall. Blood seeped from his mouth as he weakly watched Scourge approach him. Before he could attempt to try to move, Scourge roughly grabbed him by his gray shirt and lifted his body from the floor.

He slammed his body against the wall and lowly growled under his breath. "You were close, Luke. Really fucking close. But you know what? It just wasn't good enough." He took his free hand and grabbed his wrist tightly when he saw him about to reach out towards him.

Luke cried out in pain when he felt him suddenly bend his wrist back.

He took his now broken wrist and slammed it hard against the wall. He slowly leaned close to him so he could talk softly into his ear. "I will always be stronger than you, Luke. You wanna know why?"

He slightly groaned under his breath as he felt his hand slightly tighten around his wrist.

"Because you fucking got soft", he spoke in a low and harsh tone. "If you didn't fall in love with a whore and have fucking kids with her, you would still be at the top of your game. You should've never abandoned who you were!" His hand around his wrist had gotten tighter, "You were a merciless killer and now look at you! You gave up everything you had! Everything we had! And for what? The sake of a happy family? Well look at how that all turned out for you!" He paused and slightly shifted his eyes away from him, "You fucking disappointed me, Lucas..."

"Scourge...", he spoke in a low and weak tone.

His eyes flashed back over to him as he heard him weakly call out to him.

"You were a fucked up kid. I knew this...but I should've never put all that shit in your head. We both never had the happy family that everyone else had but that was something we both wanted. I know it was..."

He slightly shook his head, "...No..."

"I found my way out of the darkness and I know you still can too."

"...Shut up..."

His eyes weakly looked into his, "Because demon or not...you still have a soul..."

"...Shut up...Shut up!" He shouted angrily as he once again slammed his body against the wall harshly.

As he heard him groaning in anguish, he again leaned over to him and spoke harshly in his ear, "Let's get something straight. I am nothing like you and I never will be." His hand had then grabbed around his neck roughly while his other hand had grabbed the knife was was stuck into the wall that was beside them.

Luke's eyes shot open as he felt the sharp pain of the knife being stabbed into his stomach multiple times. He weakly gasped for air as he held his neck tighter and tighter. He could also feel his breath brushing against his shoulder and the sound of him hungrily panting. "...Scourge..." As he tried to struggle out of his grip, he could feel his breath getting closer and closer towards his shoulder before everything had became dark.

The next morning, Dave angrily jabbed the key into the keyhole of the locked entrance doors of the Black Shield agency.

Mina, Sonia, and Aaron were standing around him while he was unlocking the doors.

"God damn it", Dave had muttered angrily under his breath as he continued the jab the keyhole of the door with his key. "Fucking Luke. He knew it was his turn to open the agency this morning."

A sweat drop formed on the side of Mina's head as she witnessed how angry Dave was. "Now, now, Dave. Maybe something came up. Maybe he just overslept. After all, he did close last night."

Sonia gave the mongoose a teasing look, "Or maybe he got caught up with his little girlfriend again."

Once Dave unlocked the doors, he angrily swung the doors open and stormed inside with the rest of the group following behind him. "If that's the case, then his ass will be sorry! Team leader or not! Unacceptable and most of all unprofessional!" In annoyance, he threw his keys onto the front desk and walked over to the security numeric panel that was on the wall.

Aaron snickered under his breath while he walked inside the agency along with Sonia and Mina. "Well Luke usually is on time but since he's dating Nicole now, he's been slipping a lot lately."

Mina shook her head and clasped her hands together happily. "The boss has found love and I think he and Miss Nicole make the perfect couple!"

Sonia arched her eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. "Yeah, yeah it's cute. But I gotta agree with Dave. It's not cool having us waiting outside for twenty minutes either." Their conversation was interrupted when Dave spoke out to the group.

"Hey, guys?"

The group had then had their attention to Dave.

He pointed blankly at the security panel on the wall, "The alarm wasn't set last night."

Aaron then had a blank look on his face. "But Luke was the last to leave yesterday." He turned to Mina and Sonia, "He always remembers to set the alarm."

Sonia placed a finger on her chin as she began to think, "Yeah that's not like him at all."

Dave then couldn't help but to have a bad feeling that had set in the pit of his stomach. Horrible thoughts suddenly came rushing to his head, "Luke..."

The group had then watched as Dave rushed into Luke's office and then came back into the lobby with a worried look on his face.

Mina's eyes looked over to Dave in worry as she definitely feared something was wrong. "...Dave?"

His eyes continued to scan around the huge lobby to see if anything was out of place but everything had looked completely normal. "...I don't think Luke ever left last night."

"Wha?" Sonia had watched as he rushed his way down into the weapon's room of the agency. "Dave!" She and the rest of the group had followed him into the basement.

When they all had caught up to him, they made their way downstairs and saw Dave staring down at the floor with an unbelievable and horrific look on his face. They all looked at what he was staring at and saw Luke laying unconscious on the floor in a small puddle of blood with his body practically covered in blood.

In shock, Sonia felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from the vile sight. "Oh shit..."

Just by seeing the sight of him, tears began to swell in Mina's eyes. She placed her hands over her mouth and began to cry softly. "Luke...oh no..."

With his fists clenched in both anger and distraught, Dave turned back to the group while trying to keep his emotions steady for the rest of the team's sake. "Aaron, call an ambulance!" With him still in shock, he didn't move right away until Dave shouted back out at him. "Now damn it!"

With Dave snapping him back to reality, he quickly ran back up the stairs on his way to call for an ambulance.

While Sonia tried to calm Mina down, Dave slowly kneeled down next to him and slightly shook his body to try to wake him, "Damn it, Luke. You can't die on us." Once he found that trying to shake him to wake him up didn't work, he gently held his hand and looked down upon at his unresponsive face. "Who..." he murmured under his breath angrily. "Who did this to you?" He slowly shifted his eyes away from him and looked over at the vault that had the door of it swung open.

Later at the Royal Guardians headquarters, Antoine was sitting at the front desk typing on the computer until he heard the phone setting near him on the desk ringing. He carelessly picked up the receiver of the phone and placed it on his ear. "Thanks for calling The Royal Guardians Detective Agency. Antoine speaking..." He had then heard a sudden panicked male voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hey is Captain Nicole available? This is an emergency!"

Antoine rose an eyebrow in concern and turned to Nicole who was about to walk back into her office. "Miss Nicole, you have a phone call."

"Huh? Who is it?" She asked as she started to approach him.

He slightly shook his head and held the phone over to her. "I'm not sure, but they asked particularly to speak to you. It sounds urgent."

With caution, she took the phone from him and began to answer into the phone. "This is Captain Nicole speaking. Can I help you?"

Antoine watched as Nicole's worried expression had turned to panicked and saddened one. He saw her place her hand over her mouth in shock and tears swelling in her eyes.

"What? No...he can't..." She spoke in a broken and hoarse tone.

Dax, Rotor, and Ash were all in the lobby and also had took notice of her reaction and figured whatever what was going on couldn't be good.

She sniffed as her tears began to stream down her face. She made a small nod as she continued to talk into the phone. "Okay thank you for letting me know."

After when Ash saw her place the phone back on the hook, he had to know what had suddenly upset her. "What's going on?"

She turned to the group while trying to wipe away her tears. She tried her hardest to explain the situation without her crying. "It's The Black Shield. Captain Dave found Lucas down in the weapons room with him badly hurt."

Dax gasped from the shocking news. "What? Is he okay?"

She slightly shook her head, "They couldn't get him to wake up so he's on his way to the hospital."

Rotor turned to Dax in confusion, "I wonder what happened."

Ash nervously bit his lip as he thought about the rest of the members from The Black Shield. "Oh shit...I hope Mina's okay..."

"Mina and the rest of them are fine", Nicole had explained. "It's just Lucas..." She then couldn't hold back anymore of her tears and started to cry.

Antoine stood from his chair and gently rubbed her back to help calm her down. "Miss Nicole, I can't stand to see you like this. You must go to him."

She turned back to him and tried wiping away some of her tears. She wanted to see him but Sally had left her in charge of the agency. She couldn't simply leave the group to go see how Luke's condition was. She knew the team had needed her. "But I can't. I..."

"Nicole, we got everything under control here." Ash pointed out towards the entrance doors, "You go make sure Luke is okay."

Nicole stepped forward towards the doors and then turned back to the group of detectives with a faint smile on her face. "Thank you...all of you..." After that being said, she quickly rushed out of the agency making her way towards Industrial City.

Ash had then turned to Dax, Antoine, and Rotor while he held out his hands. "So", he began. "I'm in charge now right?"

In annoyance, Antoine rolled his eyes over to the mongoose, "You fucking wish..."

Rotor and Dax had made nervous looks towards each other when they realized that somebody out of the group had to be in charge until Nicole had returned. The question was who would it be?

Later at The Radiant Guard headquarters, Amethyst was in her office sitting at her desk while she watched Rick slowly pace back and forth around her office. She leaned her back against the desk chair she sat in and made a worried look as he mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts. "Hey, Rick?"

The hyena shifted his eyes over to hers blankly.

"Have you seen Riley anywhere?"

He arched an eyebrow towards her as he heard her suddenly mention Riley's name out of the blue. "No? Why would I have?"

She slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Well a few days ago, she called in and said she had something she had to do out of town for a couple days. I thought maybe you've seen her around?"

"Sorry, hun. That's a no from me."

She slightly sighed and glanced up towards the ceiling, "This just isn't like her..." When she looked away from the ceiling, her eyes narrowed when she saw him taking out a cigarette and about to light it. She spoke in a low and irritated tone, "Rick..."

He paused and held the lighter at the end of the cigarette while he looked over to her.

She crossed her arms in annoyance, "You know I don't allow smoking in my agency. Let alone my office."

He took the cigarette away from his mouth and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Amethyst, babe..."

"I said no!"

Knowing that she wouldn't allow him to smoke in her office, he sighed heavily and had put away the cigarette and lighter while he slowly made his way towards her desk. "What's got you so pissy lately, huh?" He stood behind her chair and placed his hand on her shoulder to start massaging it gently.

She placed her elbow on the surface of the desk and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "It's nothing. It's just...my team seems to be just falling apart..."

"What makes you think that?"

She arched an eyebrow and had an irritated look on her face without turning back to him. "Oh gee I don't know. Fiona's disappeared...possibly on the run, Riley decided to suddenly take a vacation, and I think my Captain hates me."

An annoyed look formed on his face as he heard her reply to him in an irritated tone. "Well shit. Sorry I asked." He had then made a confusing look and arched an eyebrow, "But your Captain? Lydia right? What's been bugging her?"

A saddened look appeared on her face as she bit her lip nervously before explaining to him. "It's just...she's been upset with me lately. She avoids me and doesn't want to talk to me."

He laughed a bit under his breath and thought of the situation as nothing but a trivial thing. "She'll get over it. She's a weird chick anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Something is just off about her. She's always hanging around you and looking at you weird. Heh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she's fucking gay for you or something."

Her eyes widened as she remembered all the times she and Lydia had spent together. Lydia was not only her trusted Captain but best friend as well. All the times they were with each other, their were some signs. And now that she thought about it, they were pretty obvious ones. Her thoughts were interutped when she and Rick had heard an e-mail notification coming from her computer. She picked her head up from her hand and directed her attention to the computer screen.

Rick slightly leaned over to look at the computer screen. "What's up?"

"An e-mail for all Council members and Captains..." Suddenly a serious look had formed on her face as she saw the name of the sender. "From Miss Wish..." When she opened the e-mail, her and Rick had started to glance through it. She took her eyes away from the screen and turned back to Rick. "It's Luke. He's been hurt!"

He slightly rubbed his chin, "Hurt? Or dead?"

She glanced back at the e-mail, "For now he's in critical condition over at the Industrial City Hospital but there will be more updates on his condition later."

"What happened?"

She continued to glance through the e-mail, "From the incident report, it appears that he was attacked last night within the agency. When they found him this morning, he wasn't responsive and he suffered severe injuries."

He slowly shifted his eyes towards the floor, "Maybe an Almas got in?"

"But there wasn't any signs of bite marks on his body. His injuries were caused by actual weapons. Also...the vault in the weapon room had been broken into."

He looked back over to her, "So someone knew about the vault and the code to break into it."

She turned back to him with a worried look, "But who? Who would do such a thing?"

He slowly leaned over to her with a serious look on his face, "Think, hun. Out of all The Black Shield members, who's in charge of their weapons and the shit stored in that vault?"

She placed a finger on her bottom lip as she started to think deep in thought.

"Besides, there is an important rule when it comes to the weapon vault. Yes every agency has one but only three team members can get into the vault." He held up three fingers towards her, "The leader, the Captain, and..."

"...The Weapon Specialist..." She spoke in a shocked tone.

He made a small nod, "Bingo."

She slowly turned back to the computer in shock, "Scourge..."

It was later that night in Tech City in Azul Park. Freya was walking along with Risa through the dark and seemingly empty park after they both had attended the viewing for Risa's neighbors. The two of them were wearing dark clothing that were fitting for the depressing viewing they had both went to. Risa was wearing a black and sheer long sleeve cardigan, a black sleeveless mini dress that came a little above her knees, and black high heeled shoes.

Freya wore a fitted long sleeve black button up shirt, black skinny jeans, and black and white sneakers. While she slowly walked beside Risa, her eyes slowly shifted over to her. As she looked over to her, she could tell that she was deep in thought and whatever was on her mind was only making her appear saddened. She decided to break the silence between them and talk to her. "...It was a nice service."

Risa perked her ears up and turned to her with a blank look.

"The viewing...it was very nice."

She slowly turned away from her and directed her eyes back down onto the sidewalk as she walked. "...Yes..."

Freya had then suddenly stopped in her tracks and called out to her. "Hey, Risa?"

The yellow lemur stopped walking and spun around to turn to her with a confused look on her face.

She nervously crossed her arms before he spoke out about what was actually going on in her mind. "What you said...about Ker and Shadow. Did...did you really mean all of that?" She remembered Risa said that since Shadow and Ker were both demons, she thought of them as their enemy. When she had said that, it had bothered her ever since.

She slightly sighed in an annoyed tone. "Look Freya, I don't care what kind of relationship you have with them but in my eyes, they're nothing more than monsters."

She slightly bit her lip and gave her a saddened look."...Risa..." The two of them were interrupted when they heard a feminine voice being heard around them.

"Well, well..."

Risa and Freya immediately started to look around them to find out who was speaking out to them. They were startled when they caught sight of a red fox woman jumping down from the tree above them.

The fox woman stood in front of them and locked her menacing red eyes over at the two girls. "What do we have here? Looks like I got two for the price of one."

Frightened, Risa stood behind Freya and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Freya?"

She placed her hand on her hip as her eyes fell upon the frightened yellow lemur who stood behind Freya. "Oh I remember you. You're that girl who left that house that night."

Risa's eyes widened in confusion towards her. "Wha-what?"

She flashed her fangs while she laughed a bit, "It's kind of funny to think me and my boyfriend were gonna kill you but then we saw that happy little family..." She slightly shrugged her shoulders while she made an evil smirk, "I guess it's safe to say we got more for what we were originally going for."

Her eyes widened in shock as she slowly began to put all the pieces together "...You...it was you..." She pointed towards her while tears angrily swelled in her eyes, "You killed Ann and Joe!"

She arched an eyebrow towards the heartbroken lemur, "Hm? Was that their names?" She again carelessly shrugged her shoulders, "Oh well. Like it matters now right?"

Before Risa could say anything else, she watched as Freya angrily pointed towards her and had spoken up.

"You!" Freya spoke out in an angry tone. "I know who you are!"

She arched an eyebrow towards the ferret in confusion, "Huh?"

She placed her hand over her chest as her eyes angrily locked with hers. "What? You don't remember me? I sure as hell know who you are! Fiona Fox! Former Weapon Specialist of The Radiant Guard!"

She slightly tilted her head as she observed the angry red ferret who stood in front of her. "Wha?" She looked harder at her until she finally remembered who she was. "I see...you're from The Chaotix. You're that Mech Specialist girl."

Freya clenched her fists tightly as she observed her red eyes and fangs that flashed within her smile, "So it's true..."

Fiona again had given her a confused look.

"Let me guess..." She had spoke in a low and angry tone. "You had Scourge sire you..."

She crossed her arms and formed an evil smirk towards her, "Heh, looks like someone's been doing their homework."

She slightly shook her head, "I can't believe you. You had him turn you into a monster just so you could be with each other. How pathetic..."

She clenched her fist as she slowly became angry with her words. "No matter the way you or anyone else sees it, I joined The Dark Alliance for power."

She had then given her a disgusted look, "Yeah you keep telling yourself that. You were just hopelessly in love with Scourge."

Fiona had then took a small step over to her and growled angrily under her breath, "You don't know anything so shut up."

"You're nothing but a killer now..."

While Freya coldly glared over to Fiona, Risa watched as a fire like aurora surround her clenched fists. "Freya?"

Fiona's eyes saw the fire like aurora surrounding Freya's clenched fist. "You might wanna just walk away now, girly. Or shit's gonna get messy fast", she growled in a threatening tone.

She ignored her threat and continued to glare over towards the demonic fox woman. "You wanna betray The Council and kill innocent people all for the sake of that green asshole? Big mistake!"

 **Author's Note: Hey, guys! Yes I updated another random chapter and no there will still be no chapter bomb this week. I still don't have an exact date for it to be honest. I actually really wanted to touch base with you guys on a few things. My schedule's been hectic lately because of just personal things, work, and apparently in my area, we were under the radar of a hurricane called Florence which came into the scene as a whopping category 4. If no one's heard about it, Florence came and went. Fortunate for us who lives in the state of Virginia, we all dodged a bullet. But unfortunately, the hurricane ripped apart North Carolina and now everyone is trying to recollect themselves from it. I am saddened and terrified that such a massive storm actually hit the east coast the way that it did. We had never had a storm like this in a very long time and it was super scary. My heart and prayers go out to those who have been effected by the hurricane.**

 **Anyway, I have updated on DeviantArt and announced that I am okay. Me and my house are fine. I've just been gone because of personal reasons. But I hate making you guys wait for more updates. But I just can't get to the computer a lot lately it seems and I do apologize. But I do wanna thank all of you who have reached out to me during my absence. Like I said I am fine I'm just dealing with a lot right now. The story will be completed in due time. Like I said before, this story is close to finishing so you better believe that this story will be completed and I'm looking forward to writing the next story. But until then, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and expect more updates in the near future. I love you guys so much and thank you again for being so patient and awesome. See you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Blaze: You must be a really busy guy back in Tech City huh?**

 **Shadow: I honestly don't know why I deserve such a great family...**

 **Sonic: Hey! Hey! Guys!**

 **Tails: Better late than never...**

 **Amy: Wha? Where are they going off to now?**

 **Silver: We really don't have time for this...**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

Back at Tails' workshop, Blaze came into the garage with two white mugs full of coffee in her hands. She walked over to Silver and handed him one of the mugs. She leaned over and kissed him lightly on the side of his forehead. "There you go. More coffee, hun."

The white hedgehog formed a small warm smile and watched as she gently sat on his lap. "Thanks, babe. All this waiting around is starting to tire me out." He then heard Tails speaking out while he sat at his desk as he continued to work on his project.

"Sorry, guys. I'm almost done."

Mighty carelessly waved his hand towards him while he held a half empty beer bottle in his other hand. "Take your time. No need to rush", he had slightly slurred.

In annoyance, Amy slightly turned her head towards him while she sat across from the seemingly drunk armadillo. "You doing okay, Mighty?"

He carelessly shrugged his shoulders, "Of course I'm okay." He then looked over to Shadow who had sat next to him who held a beer bottle in his hand as well. "Just getting fucking lit with this guy over here."

With a calm look on his face, Shadow clacked his bottle against Mighty's and leaned back in the bean bag chair he had sat in. "Sitting around in a garage and getting fucking drunk. Man I miss doing this."

A sweat drop formed on the side of Amy's head as observed the two who were drinking with each other. "Geez", she murmured in a low tone. "Don't tell me they're both drunk." She heavily sighed and placed her hands on her hips when she turned to Tails. "You just had to offer beer didn't you?"

The orange fox slightly turned his head to her and shrugged his shoulders. "What? I was just trying to be a good host."

Silver arched an eyebrow towards Shadow as he took an interest in him being intoxicated in front of him for the very first time. "So I take it you don't have much time to relax back over in Tech City?"

He slightly shook his head, "No way. There's always meetings, business trips, conferences, and paperwork. Holy shit the paperwork..." He began to remember how he practically stays in his office because of him constantly doing paperwork.

Blaze had given him a slight smile, "Well with you being in charge of your own agency and everything, I can just imagine how busy your schedule must be."

"Yeah", he spoke in a saddened tone. "I barely get any time to spend with my friends let alone my own family."

"Well no matter with how much you're gone, I know your family still loves and supports you with all what you do", Amy spoke.

His eyes had shifted down to the floor as a slight moment of guilt had hit him from what had been going on between him and Sally. "Yeah...I don't know why I even deserve such a great family..."

Before anyone could ask him what he had meant, the door to the garage had suddenly opened. They all turned to a blue male hedgehog with a brown female chipmunk standing beside him.

Mighty narrowed his eyes over to the blue hedgehog, "Well, well look who decided to show up!"

With a nervous look on his face, Sonic continued to step into the room. "Hey you know me. I decided to stop and see the sights before I actually came by."

Mighty's eyes had glanced over to Sally and back at him, "Yeah, yeah excuses, excuses. You just wanted to spend some time with your ex girlfriend."

Amy couldn't help but to slightly giggle from the comment. Even she had to admit that no one had seen the two all day so it led all of them to think of one assumption.

When Shadow saw Sally make eye contact wtih him, he saw her quickly look away from him. He couldn't help but to wonder what the two of them had done all day. He wondered if Mighty was right. What if the two were seeing each other again? If so, it would definitely explain why the two showed up as late as they did.

A slight blush formed on Sonic's face when he noticed almost everyone in the room had given him teasing looks. "Cut it out, guys. It's not like that..."

Silver's sly look towards him had never left his face. "Sure", he spoke out in a sarcastic tone. He and the rest of the group were interrupted when they heard Tails speaking out to them.

"Finally! I got it!"

The group had then stood from their seats and gathered around Tails in curiosity.

Sonic crossed his arms as he arched an eyebrow at the robotic parts that were scattered all over Tails' desk. "What'd you find out, Tails?"

Tails looked down and pointed at the broken robotic parts. "Apparently this is a type of scouting robot."

"Scouting robot?" Amy repeated blankly.

Tails made a nod, "Yes. I think Hao built this so he could scope out the areas all around the kingdom. Kinda like a little spy. It apparently was recording areas from the village and up to Windy Valley."

Shadow slightly turned to Sonic, "We found that thing floating around Windy Valley."

Tails once again made a nod and turned to them. "Well most of its footage is from that area. And there's one area in particular that it spent the most time in." His eyes slowly shifted away from them as he began to become deep in thought. "...Almost as if it was trying to guard something."

Sally placed a finger to her chin, "So you think Hao is hiding out somewhere in Windy Valley?"

He shook his head, "Not sure. But it would definitely be a good place for him to hideout. A lot of people stay away from there because its so dangerous. Weather wise anyway."

Sonic had then placed his fist in the palm of his hand and formed a smirk. "Well then it's all settled!"

The group had then directed their attention towards Sonic.

"Looks like our sources are directing us to Windy Valley!"

Silver had to agree that was the best clue to where Hao was and decided it was time to make their move. He made a nod, "Let's meet up with Elias back at the castle and start planning. We end this tonight."

Later when they all had gotten back to the castle, they all told Elias about their new plan and they all began to prep to make their way towards Windy Valley. They were gathered in the large hallway of the castle discussing their new found objective.

While Sonic spoke with Silver, his eyes caught sight of Sally who leaned against the wall and looked outside one of the large windows located within the hallway. She appeared to be deep in thought about something other than the mission. He grew concerned for her and decided to slowly make his way towards her.

While Sally's blue eyes stared into the dark night sky, she was deep in her thoughts until she heard Sonic's voice approaching behind her.

"Sal?"

She broke out of her thoughts and turned to the blue hedgehog who had a worried look on his face.

"You okay?"

She made a small yet unsure appearing nod while she slowly shifted her eyes away from him. "Yeah just...thinking...about my mother..."

No wonder she had appeared saddened. She was thinking of her dead mother but he had wondered why she was suddenly thinking of her. He had given her a sympathetic look, "...You miss her huh?"

She again made a small nod and saw him suddenly extend his hand out towards her.

A small and warm smile formed on his lips, "Come on. Follow me."

She had no clue what ideas had suddenly popped into Sonic's head, but she didn't want to put her personal concerns towards the mission everyone was about to go on. "But...we're about to..."

He slightly shook his head with the same calming look still on his face. "I know but this will only take a moment. Just trust me, Sal."

After making a slight hesitation, she decided to go ahead with him to see what he wanted to show her. She slowly placed her hand in his and started to follow him down the long hallway.

Amy watched as Sonic and Sally walked back down the hallway together while they both held hands. She arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Where are they going off to?"

Mighty rolled his eyes in irritation and slightly sighed. "I told you. They're back fucking again."

Silver crossed his arms in annoyance as he watched as the two disappeared down the long hallway. "I know it's been forever since they've seen each other. But Christ. They were with each other all day and now they wanna do this before an important mission?"

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Tails' head, "You know how those two always were with each other."

After overhearing their conversation, Shadow couldn't help but to think the same thing that was going on in everyone else's head. If that was the case, then it was great that Sonic and Sally had fallen back in love with each other. But he couldn't deny the fact that it had slightly bothered him.

Sally gently cracked the door open to her father's room and slowly made her way inside the dark and dreary room with Sonic following behind her. Her eyes fell upon the huge bed that was in the center of the room. She took a small step back as she stared at who was laying in the bed, "Sonic", she called in a nervous whisper. "I don't know..." She then felt his hand being gently placed on her waist.

"Talk to him, Sally. He needs you", he replied back to her in a soft tone.

With small hesitant steps, she slowly approached the bed and kneeled down beside it. Her eyes shifted over to the sickened older male squirrel who was laying in the bed. It seemed that he was mindlessly staring up at the ceiling until she called out to him. "...Father?"

The sick old man's tired eyes slowly shifted over to the female chipmunk who was kneeling beside him. "Sally?" He had called in a weak voice. Before he could reach out towards her, he saw her hand gently yet firmly grasping his.

A small and warm smile formed on her lips as she looked down upon him. "Hello, father."

"You've come to see me? Aren't you busy with trying to stop Hao?" Even though he was sick and bedridden, between Gardon and Elias the both of them made sure to keep him up to date on their current situation.

She made a small nod, "Yes but we...never really got the chance to talk. To actually...talk..."

Sonic had kept his distance and had his back leaned against the wall that was next to the slightly cracked open door of the room. He crossed his arms and watched as Sally spoke with her father.

"Talk?" Her father repeated blankly. "What about?"

She slowly shifted her eyes away from his in guilt, "I'm sorry..."

He continued to give her a blank look.

"I left you...and the kingdom especially when you all needed me the most." She shook her head slowly, "I was just afraid. Afraid of losing you before my very eyes." She slightly shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I just felt so...weak."

He slightly arched an eyebrow as he continued to listen to her.

"I ran away to Future City to get stronger. Mentally and physically but yet and still...it still didn't feel like it was enough. I think it was just because I left you and everyone else behind so suddenly. I don't understand really."

"...Understand?"

"Why you all don't hate me for leaving..." When she felt his hand slowly grip around hers tighter, she looked back towards him.

"Sally, don't you ever feel like you've abandoned your home. You said so yourself. You moved away so you could better yourself and I know you've helped others who were in need." A small smile formed on his lips, "Now I don't know how it is outside of the kingdom but when I first saw you come back, I didn't see a frail and defenseless princess. I saw a strong and beautiful warrior who so happens to still be my daughter."

Tears had began to swell in her eyes while she listened to his heartwarming words. "You...don't hate me?"

"Why would I hate you? You're doing what you love and that's helping people. And I couldn't be more of a proud and happy father." He smiled warmly towards her, "Your mother would be proud."

When she felt that she could no longer fight back her tears, a teardrop had fell from her face and onto the bed sheets of the bed. A faint yet happy smile formed on her lips, "I...I love you, father."

He watched as she leaned over to him and gently hugged him. "I love you too, Sally. Never forget that."

A small and content smile formed on Sonic's face as he watched the tender moment between Sally and her father take place in front of him.

On the other side of the door, Elias had his back leaned against the door while he had heard what was said from inside of the room. A warm smile formed on his face after hearing Sally talk with her father. "Good to have you back, Sal", he whispered softly before taking his back away from the door and walking back down the hallway.

Later, the group was walking through the large and dry plains of Windy Valley. The entire valley would've been overtaken by darkness if it wasn't for the bright full moon that had lit up the dark night sky. There were a few storm clouds slowly moving within the sky. If everyone listened closely, they could hear thunder out in the distance.

Mighty arched an eyebrow as Tails had led the way while he operated the Cyclone, "Now are you sure Hao's somewhere out here?"

The orange fox spun around to the group with an annoyed look on his face. "Hey you doubt me? My sources indicate that he's in this location."

Mighty placed a hand on his hip, "Well I guess you are the mech expert here", he spoke in a sarcastic tone.

The fox made a wide and prideful smile back towards him as he referred to him as a mechanical expert. However little did he know that he was being sarcastic towards him.

Mighty narrowed his eyes over to Shadow who was walking beside him. "Why'd you have to boost his already big ego with that Mech Specialist crap?"

Shadow slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Hey as a Council member, I thought I should let him know that he has potential."

Amy gently nudged Mighty's shoulder, "And besides, even you have to admit it. We can't find shit on this guy and this is the best lead we've gotten since this creep showed his face in the kingdom."

Blaze slightly shrugged her shoulders and turned to Mighty as she agreed with Amy. "She's right."

Elias clenched his fist as he felt himself ready to finally bring Hao down once and for all. "Well if he's here then we need to settle the score. Right here and now."

When everyone nodded in agreement, they suddenly felt the ground shaking below their feet.

Amy struggled to maintain her balance, "Wha? What is this?"

"An earthquake?" Before Sally completely lost her balance and almost fell to the ground from the intense shaking, Sonic had caught her in his arms.

Silver's eyes flashed over to the ledge near them and saw something fast that was a large and silver blur. "...What?" Before he knew it, him and the rest of the group fell to the ground after something large and heavy slammed into the ground in front of them.

When they all looked, their eyes caught sight of a large and silver robot that stood in front of them.

The robot was almost as tall as some of the ledges around them. It had a sword like arm for one hand and the other, it had a shield. In the chest area of the robot was a visible yellow tinted glass that showed none other than Hao who was piloting the robot.

The light blue wolf pointed towards the group, "I had a feeling you all would start snooping around here! Good thing I'm always one step ahead!"

Shadow clenched his fists as he glared towards the wolf. "Hao!"

A smirk formed on his face as he looked back at the group, "Shadow, you and the rest of these Freedom Fighting clowns will be sorry you even came here! I assure you!"

A light rain started to slowly drip from the sky and the distant thunder had gotten closer while they all stood in a fighting stance as they prepared themselves to battle Hao and his menacing robot.

 **Author's Note: Annnd after waiting and waiting it's finally here! The final chapter bomb for this story has officially commenced! Thank you guys so much for your amazing patience and support! I hope you all will be pleased with the final chapter and also look forward to the first chapter of Demon Wars coming at you towards the end of the bomb! Get ready! It'll be lit! Hope you guys enjoy! R &R please!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Sky: You monsters don't scare me.**

 **Scourge: Big talk from a half assed vampire...**

 **Sky: I know more about you than you know.**

 **Scourge:...What are you?**

 **Freya: You'll pay for the people you've killed, Fiona!**

 **Fiona: You're a fool for trying to fight me, girly!**

 **Risa: Freya! You can't die!**

 **Freya:...Is that?**

 **Fiona: Riley...**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

Scourge tiredly wandered through the dark and seemingly empty halls within the orphanage. He slightly sniffed the air and smelled the strong scent of coffee being brewed from the kitchen near him. He slowly walked into the kitchen and peeked his head in only to find a white male bat pouring freshly made but coffee into a white mug.

The white bat's ears perked up when he heard footsteps slowly stepping into the kitchen. He turned his head to find Scourge slowly making his way over to him.

He placed a hand in his pants pocket as he casually approached him. "What the hell are you doing up so late and making coffee?"

He gave him an irritated look and leaned his back against the counter while he held the mug full of coffee in his hands. "Not that it's any of your business, but I couldn't sleep."

He made a confused look and arched an eyebrow towards him, "...And coffee is supposed to help with that?"

In annoyance, he lowly scoffed under his breath before he took a small sip from his mug. He couldn't help but to wonder why Scourge randomly wanted to create conversation with him. He knew that he and the hedgehog didn't exactly like each other. All for the sake that he was a demon and he was just another weak mortal in his eyes.

"Out of all of us, aren't you supposed to be the normal one and sleep on a regular schedule?" He slightly flashed his fangs within his small smirk, "Or perhaps you're not comfortable staying in a place inhabited by flesh eaters."

He had given him a bitter look. He realized what he was trying to do. Obviously he was trying to intimidate him with the fact that he was stronger than him. But he put on a front and made sure that he didn't look intimidated by him. "Don't be so stupid. You monsters don't scare me."

"Heh, big talk from a wannabe vampire", he had teased.

He sighed heavily and flashed his eyes away from him, "You came here to just harass me or what?"

He started to slightly glance around the kitchen, "I'm actually looking for Fiona. You seen her anywhere?"

He carelessly shrugged his shoulders, "What the hell do I look like? Her keeper?" He spoke in a bitter tone before taking another sip of his coffee.

He scoffed slightly under his breath and flashed his eyes from him, "A simple no would've sufficed but okay whatever..." Before he could walk out of the kitchen, he heard Sky speaking out once again.

"She said something about going out to the park."

He turned back to him and saw him looking back at him while he still held his mug full of coffee securely in his hands. He held out his hands in confusion, "The park? Why the hell did she go there? And without me?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. She said something about being bored..."

"Bored?" He repeated blankly.

He slightly laughed under his breath, "And she didn't take you with her? Wow she must be sick of you already."

He pointed towards him in uprising anger. "You shut your mouth, blood sucker!"

He continued to lowly laugh under his breath. He found it amusing when Scourge had gotten upset over the fact that Fiona suddenly left and without telling him.

With a small flustered look on his face, he angrily turned his back and started to make his way out towards the kitchen. "Whatever..." Before he could leave, he heard Sky speaking out once again.

"By the way..."

He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back to him in annoyance.

He took the mug he held and set it down on the gray counter beside him while he focused his attention towards the green hedgehog. "I heard you went back to The Black Shield to get your shit out of the weaponry vault."

He arched an eyebrow as he wondered how he found out about what he had done. "...Who told you that?"

He crossed his arms and made a small and sly smile. He acted as though he never took interest in the affairs with the rest of the demons he had to work with, but he always had his ears open whenever something was going on within The Nest. "I have my sources..."

He wanted to know how he heard about him going back to The Black Shield to get his weapons. The only person who knew about it was Fiona. Unless someone was listening in on their conversation. He assumed right away that he was spying on him. "Hmph...so I took back what was mine. So what?"

"I also heard you had an encounter with your old leader."

His heart raced as he heard him bring up his old leader. He knew for a fact that he was spying on him. So he knew that he went out to The Black Shield to retrieve his weapons but no one knew the details of it except Fiona. Was she talking to Sky about everything? If so, why was she? "...Yeah? What of it?"

He placed a finger to his chin, "I know he didn't let you walk out of there so easy. And with you being now an all powerful and soulless demon, you could've killed him with ease."

He stood there and continued to give him an angry look. What was going on? And what was he getting at?

"But if that was the case, he wouldn't be in the hospital now would he?"

He slowly clenched his fists tightly. "...What are you..."

He slightly rubbed his chin as he fixed his yellow eyes over to him, "You had the chance to finally eliminate him but you hesitated..."

He stood there with his heart still racing inside of his chest with his angered eyes still fixed upon him.

"Luke is still alive. Why is that? Do you perhaps still have a soft spot for him?" He asked with a small and sly smile on his face.

He growled in a low and angry tone, "Shut up..."

He slightly held out his hand in a confusing gesture. "You can kill random families but not your old leader?"

He knew what he was doing. He was taunting him and perhaps questioning his power. His blood boiled inside of him as he continued to speak. "Shut up!"

"...Perhaps maybe you're not as soulless as you think you are?" He watched as Scourge stormed over to him in just a blink of an eye and harshly slammed his head down onto the counter that was near them.

While he held his head down he harshly growled into his ear, "I don't know where the hell you've heard that shit from but you might wanna mind your damn business!"

With him holding his head down onto the counter, he found it useless to struggle because of his incredible demonic strength.

He continued to harshly growl into his ear, "Don't fucking underestimate me! I am what I am and that's one bad motherfucker no one wants to mess with! You got that, vampire?"

When he felt him release his hand from him, he watched as he angrily stormed out of the kitchen. While panting slightly, he leaned his back against the counter and held the side of his head from where Scourge had slammed his head down onto the counter. When Scourge disappeared from the kitchen, a slight yet evil smirk appeared on his lips.

Back in Azul Park, Risa slightly backed away and gave the red ferret who stood in a fighting stance a worried look. She placed a hand up to her mouth in concern. She knew what was happening and she knew what Freya was trying to do. But she couldn't shake that something awful was going to happen if the two had fought. "Please, Freya", she spoke in a low and shaky tone. "Don't do this..."

Freya didn't take her angry eyes away from the red fox woman who had stood across from them.

She let out a meacing low chuckle as she placed her hands on her hips. "You're seriously gonna try to fight me? Big mistake, girly."

"Mark my words, Fiona", she spoke in an angered tone. "You'll pay for the lives you killed."

Her eyes caught sight of the fire like aurora glowing around her clenched fists. She flashed her fangs within her evil smirk. "Bring it, girly." She watched as she began to charge towards her with her clenched fist.

When she tried sending a punch towards her, she watched as she easily caught her fist into the palm of her hand. When she struggled to get her fist out of her grip, she couldn't believe how she had held her fist into her hand while the burning auroa was searing her hand. The longer she held her fist, she noticed that it was in fact burning her hand but it appeared that she wasn't in any intense pain.

Her smirk widened on her face, "Really? Fire powers? What a bore."

She was then harshly struck in her stomach from her striking her with her knee. The impact was so strong, she was sent flying back onto the ground.

In worry, Risa watched as she fell back to the ground. "Freya!"

Slowly, Freya stood from the ground while holding her stomach in pain while glaring over at the red fox woman.

Fiona calmly stepped closer to her while presenting her burned black glove on her hand. "Foolish, girl. No matter what you do, you will be no match for a demon like myself. I'm stronger than you in every way possible."

She didn't want to admit it, but she was right. With Fiona now possessing demonic attributes, her movements were faster and she gained incredible super strength. Freya only trained in hand to hand combat very slightly so in all reality, she could easily defeat her. But she knew one thing. She wasn't determined to go down easily. She would give it her all before Fiona were to end her life. "No", she spoke in an exhausted tone. "I won't give up. I will defeat you."

She slightly scoffed under her breath as she thought her will to continue to still fight her was just an annoyance. "Right. I'll kill you with my bare hands." She had once again came at her again and used her elbow to strike her in her stomach and then used her fist to send an uppercut punch under her chin.

Risa watched as she was knocked off of her feet and fell back onto the ground. In worry, she rushed over to her and kneeled down next to her. "Oh god, Freya!" When she tried to reach out to her, she again saw her slowly trying to stand to her feet. She was amazed and even after all the damage she had sustained, she was still trying to fight Fiona. "No! She's too strong! She'll kill you!"

With her hand still surrounded with the fire like aurora, she gritted her teeth angrily towards the demonic red fox who stood in front of her. "I won't go down. Not without a fight..."

Risa's eyes shifted over to Fiona who had the determined look to kill in her eyes. She looked back over to Freya who was still determined to fight her. Tears started to swell in her eyes as she feared for Freya's life. 'Oh God', she thought. 'Freya's in trouble. Fiona's gonna kill her and I don't know what to do to help her.' She clenched her fists and shut her eyes tightly as she tried hard to fight back the tears in her watery eyes. 'I can't lose Freya too...'

Fiona flashed her fangs within her smile and slightly punched her fist into the palm of her burned hand. "Time to snap that pretty little neck in two, girly..." Before she could take a step towards her, something flew past her face in great speed. She quickly turned her head and saw a sliver metal arrow that was shot into a tree behind her. She turned to face Freya and Risa again but this time another figure had approached from behind them. Her eyes widened as they fell upon the mysterious figure who had intervened with their fight.

Freya and Risa's bodies slightly jumped when they heard a sudden feminine voice coming from behind them.

"I didn't want to believe it..."

Risa and Freya turned and saw a female green porcupine who stood behind them while tightly holding a silver metal crossbow in her hands.

Risa's mouth dropped at the sight of the strange woman. Who was she? And what did she want? Was she on their side? "...What?"

Fiona's shocked eyes continued to stare at the porcupine woman, "...Riley..."

Freya's heart skipped a beat as she heard Riley's name coming from Fiona. As she observed the strange woman, it was all slowly starting to come back to her. She was none other than Riley the Secretary of The Radiant Guard detectives.

Riley continued to clench her weapon tighter in her hands while she pointed it back towards Fiona. "...But the rumors are true. You did runaway and betrayed everyone." A disgusted look formed on her face as she spoke in a low and angry tone. "Just look at you. Look what you've done to yourself. Look at what you've become..."

She had no idea that The Council would've put the pieces together so easily. She assumed with them knowing of her history with Scourge, it was a given that she ended up betraying them. A small and deep chuckle escaped from her lips as she took a step forward. "Riley..." She immediately stopped in her tracks when another arrow flew past her face and struck the same tree that was behind her.

"Don't try me", Riley spoke in a threatening tone. "The next one won't miss."

She was surprised. She and Riley had been best friends since The Radiant Guard formed. When she left the team, she knew Riley had fell apart from it. But looking at her now, she had brushed off any feelings she had for her and had every intention to kill her. A small and evil chuckle had once again slipped from her, "You're a fool if you think that little weapon can actually hurt me..." Her eyes shot open when she felt the next arrow she shot at her strike into her upper arm.

Everyone suddenly heard Fiona's cries of pain filling the air. They watched as her arm burned and steam started to give off from where the arrow had struck her. They saw her quickly rip the arrow of out her burning arm and threw it down onto the ground while still yelling in pain.

She held her burned upper arm and angrily looked down at the arrow and then back towards Riley. "What? What the fuck was that!"

Riley's firm and hateful look remained on her face as she continued to aim the crossbow at her. "You maybe immune to certain weapons, but nothing beats a good old blessed one."

Freya's ears slightly perked up as she heard Riley's words. 'Of course! Fiona's a demon! And like all demons, they have one thing in common. They're all weak against blessed objects.'

While still holding her injured arm, her eyes shifted back over to Riley, "Riley", she spoke in low and sympathetic tone. "You don't wanna do this do you?"

Riley knew what she was trying to do. Judging by her voice, she was trying to guilt trip her and have her lower her guard. But she thought of every tendency Fiona would throw at her and she never thought wrong that Fiona would definitely try to play the card as the victim. She took a step towards the red fox and securely had her finger on the trigger of her crossbow, "...May this arrow smite your wicked soul and damn you to Hell." She again had raised her weapon towards her. "...Amen..."

Before Fiona could get the chance to move, she watched as a green blur suddenly jumped in front of her. Her eyes widened in horror as she heard the painful cries coming from the green hedgehog who had stood in front of her and took the shot of the arrow into his upper back. "Scourge!"

The group watched as the green hedgehog ripped the arrow out of his burned upper back and threw it down onto the ground.

He turned to the group while fixing his angry red eyes onto Riley. "Riley!" He growled loudly, "You'll have to do better than that to kill us!"

With her being surprised to see Scourge, a small gasp escaped Riley. She slightly took a small step back as she observed the new demonic Scourge for the first time. "Scourge..." She had to admit that he looked a little more terrifying than Fiona. She knew that he was already a reckless and angry person. And with that combined with his demonic powers, his actions were unpredictable.

Before he could step towards them, he felt Fiona embracing him tightly from behind.

She nuzzled her head against his back as she embraced him. "You're hurt. Let's go back to The Nest."

He flashed his eyes over to her in annoyance. He sure wasn't trying to just show up and not kill them. Especially after when Fiona had been hurt. "I'm not gonna fucking runaway!"

She clenched onto him tighter, "Scourge, please", she begged.

He glanced down at her injuries and figured that she was just merely exhausted from the fight. He didn't want to turn away but for her sake, he had to. "...Fine." He then picked her body up and held her in his arms lovingly and securely. He then turned back to the group coldly, "This isn't over. The war is just beginning", he growled angrily.

They all watched as Scourge and Fiona disappeared into a mysterious black fog.

Risa mindlessly stared as the two demon slowly vanished away into the fog. "They're gone..." She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard small groaning coming from Freya. "Freya!" She kneeled down to her and helped her stand to her feet, "Are you okay?"

After Risa helped her stand, she turned to Riley who appeared to have a saddened look on her face. "...Riley?"

Riley swung the crossbow she held down to her side and sighed sadly as she stared off into the distance while deep in thought. "Goodbye, Fiona..."

 **Author's Note: I did forget to mention in the last chapter or so someone had asked about Luke's love life. Luke and Nicole are dating. They're not married. However Luke was once married to someone by the name of Lori and she has current custody of their daughter, Ariana. If anyone wants anymore in depth detail of Luke's past relationship with Lori then I would recommend going back and reading 'Whispers In The Dark.' The story is kind of explicit because I used it for mere writing exercise to brush up on my lemons. Although quite a bit does happen with it regarding Shadow and Luke's friendship and Fiona's decision on becoming a demon. Anyway sorry it took so long to reply with that question. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! The next chapter will be posted tomorrow! R &R please! And I'll see you guys on the flipside!**

 **In The Next Chapter...**

 **Hao: Kingdom Acorn will fall!**

 **Elias: Not if we can help it!**

 **Tails: What kind of machine is that anyway?**

 **Mighty: It's tough.**

 **Sonic: We can beat him!**

 **Sally:...Elias?**

 **Elias: This can't be happening...**


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

Rain started to pour and lightning had lit up the dark sky as the storm began to get fiercer. Shadow and the rest of the Freedom Fighters stood in a fighting stance and watched as the huge robot took a giant step towards them with the strong harsh winds blowing around them.

The light blue male wolf that was inside of the robot had laughed evilly as he piloted the robot closer towards them. "This is the end!" He exclaimed. "You will all fall and Acorn Kingdom will be mine!"

Elias turned to the group while his red hair blew violently in the heavy storm wind. "All right, guys! This is it!" He had drew his sword from his sheath and held it up towards the air. "Let's stop Hao once and for all!"

"Yeah!" They all turned back to the robot that was charging in their direction. They all quickly scattered in separate directions as they tried to confuse Hao in which direction he were to go in.

Sally stood in a distance beside the robot and took out her handgun from her holster.

Shadow saw her holding it up and pointing it towards the robot. He just knew a simple handgun wouldn't have enough power to even slow it down. After all, the robot wasn't just a walking building with feet, but it was built with tough armor. "Uh, Sally?" He watched as Sally pulled the trigger of her gun and saw a round being forcefully fired from the barrel of the gun. The gun fired like a powerful magnum but it was definitely in the design of a handgun.

Hao saw the small handgun she held in her hands and just knew it wasn't going to take any kind of effect on him. However, he still wanted to attempt to dodge it. A hilarious chuckle had escaped him, "You actually think that little toy can..." His words trailed off when the bullet struck the side of the robot as it tried to dodge the bullet. The impact was so strong, it blew off a chunk of metal from the side of the robot. His eyes widened as he witnessed the strong round that Sally had fired towards him. "What!"

"Damn", she swore under her breath as she started to reload her gun. "That robot's huge but it's pretty fast. I barely touched it." She saw Sonic and Shadow running over to her.

"Wow, Sal!" Sonic exclaimed in an excited tone as he caught sight of the gun in her hands. "Nice toy!"

Shadow observed the handgun as he stood next to her. "They're some type of explosive burst rounds. By the size and type of gun, I'm surprised it's able to handle rounds like that."

A small yet cocky smile formed on her lips. "What can I say? You're not the only one with a good Weapon Specialist, Shadow." She looked back over to the robot that was coming back towards them. "Look alive, boys." Before they could move, they saw the robot suddenly hovering above the ground. They turned and saw Silver having his hands held up towards the robot. It was clear that he was using his telekinetic abilities to lift the robot from the ground.

Hao looked around in confusion and realized he had no control of his robot while he was hovering in mid air. "Oh what the hell!"

Silver glanced over to Blaze who had stood next to him while still having the robot hovering in mid air. "You're on, babe."

She made a nod and clenched her fist that had a fire like aurora around it. "Right!" She flicked her hand towards the head of the robot. The fire attack was a direct hit but it appeared it didn't do any damage. She gritted her teeth in frustration as she figured her attacks wouldn't be much good because the armor was so thick. "That thing must be fire proof."

Amy slightly swung her hammer around while she stood on the side of Tails' Cyclone. "Well we'll see if it's hammer proof!" She had then leapt off of the Cyclone and jumped towards the robot. With all her might, she swung the end of her hammer into the side of the head of the robot. The hit was so powerful, it knocked the robot out of mid air and slammed it into a rock ledge. The robot hit the ledge hard causing some of the rocks to crumble from the ledge and the ground to shook once again.

Shadow's eyes widened as he was amazed by Amy's incredible strength. He had to admit that by first sight, she didn't seem like much a fighter. But she had amazing skills especially with the help of her hammer. "She's strong..."

Mighty stood next to Tails and placed his hands on his hips. "And that's why I try not to get on her bad side."

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts and turned back to the group, "Come on! We gotta get him while he's down!"

When Hao saw the group about to jump towards him, he lifted up the huge shield and covered the robot's body with it. When he saw them all trying to break through the large shield, he took the shield and smacked them all away from him. When everyone had scattered and fell to the ground, he used this as an opportunity to stand from the ground.

As soon as Elias saw the robot getting back up, he took his sword and charged towards him.

Sally watched in horror as the robot charge towards Elias and rammed the large and metal shield into his body "Elias!"

Elias fell to the ground and before he could stand, he saw the point of the sword being pointed towards his chest.

"Damn it!" Tails saw what was happening and turned The Cyclone towards the robot. He aimed the large barrel towards it and fired it.

Elias watched as a strange light blue blast had knocked the robot away from him.

Hao looked back down at the group who were getting ready to attack him once again. "Damn you all", he growled angrily.

Sally ran up beside the robot and pointed her gun towards it. "I'll get a direct hit for sure this time..." Before she could fire, the robot quickly spun around and took the large sword to swing at her. The blade of it didn't cut her but it had knocked her off the cliff she was standing near.

Shadow and Sonic heard her screams and rushed over to the ledge of the cliff. When they both looked down the deep and dark hole of the cliff, they didn't see any sight of her.

Sonic continued to look for her down the dark and deep cliff. "Sally!" He shouted out in worry.

"Sonic?"

Both their ears perked up when they heard Sally's faint voice from down the cliff they were looking down at it. They both looked where her voice was coming from and saw her standing on a weak ledge of the steep and dangerous cliff. "Sally!"

Sally looked back up at two hedgehogs, "Sonic! Shadow! Help!"

Shadow observed the ledge Sally was standing on. "That ledge won't sustain her for long." He turned back to Sonic, "I won't be able to make it down there in time..."

Sonic pointed to himself blankly, "...Me?"

He made a small nod, "We don't have much time and you're the only one who can get to her in time."

Sonic looked back down towards Sally with a doubtful look on his face. He then felt Shadow's hand fall on his shoulder. He turned back to Shadow who had given him an optimistic look.

Just by seeing how worried Sonic was, he knew he had cared for her and she had felt the same about him. "You can do it. Go save your girl, dude."

Even in that moment, he knew that all of the negative thoughts he had about Shadow and Sally couldn't have been true. Yes Shadow did care for Sally but clearly as a teammate and friend. He was relieved that Shadow wanted the two to get back together and be happy with each other. He formed a small smile and made a nod towards him. He then watched as he ran off to continue helping the others to defeat Hao. He looked back down towards Sally once again. "Don't worry, Sal! I'm coming!"

Sally saw the edge of the ledge she stood on starting to crumble. She leaned her back against the wall as close as she could. She looked back up at him. "Hurry, Sonic!" She watched as he quickly but carefully made his way down the cliff and down to her. As soon as she saw him standing beside her, she jumped into his arms and held onto him tightly. "Oh, Sonic!" Before the ledge could completely collapse, he quickly climbed his way back to the top with her safely in his arms.

Sally happily gazed into his eyes while he still held her in his arms. "Sonic, you saved me..."

A warm smile formed on his lips as his green eyes gazed into hers. "You know I can't let anything happen to you, Sal."

She made a small nod and a warm smile as she gently caressed the side of his face, "I know and you always did, Blue."

His eyes continued to gaze into hers lovingly with their faces only inches apart from each other. "Been awhile since you called me that..."

Her lips slowly got closer to his until they both heard fighting still going on near them. She took her hand from his cheek and turned back to the group that was still fighting Hao's robot. "Sonic..."

He took his attention away from her and turned back to the group who were fighting. "Right."

"I'll kill every single one of you! You'll see!" Hao shouted angrily from the robot he piloted.

"This ends now!" Using his telekinetic powers, Silver had picked up a some of the large boulders that were scattered over the ground and slammed them into the robot knocking it back towards the edge of the cliff.

Blaze and Tails blasted their attacks towards the robot and made it move back even more.

Amy took her hammer and bashed it against one of the legs of the robot causing it to kneel down onto one of its knees, "Take this!"

With his clenched fists, Mighty jumped up and sent a flying punch towards the side of its head. "And this!"

Elias ran up and took his sword to cut through the already exposed area from where Sally had shot at it previously. The blade of his sword had cut through the some of the wires that were inside of the robot causing it to completely stop moving.

Through the yellow and visible glass of the robot, everyone took note of Hao trying to move around the controls to continue to operate the robot but it was no use. Hao constantly tried hitting buttons and pulling levers but the robot wasn't responding. "No! This can't be!"

With a large smirk on his face, Sonic ran up to the robot while using his super speed and jumped up towards it. He used his feet and pushed against the chest of the robot causing it to be knocked back further towards the edge of the cliff.

With Shadow realizing what everyone was trying to do, he decided to finish it off. With a red aurora glow around his hands, he held them up towards the direction of the robot. "Chaos Blast!"

With the powerful blast making a direct hit on the robot, it lost its balance and was completely pushed off of the cliff.

The group ran over to the edge of the cliff and watched as the large robot fell from the large mountain and down the steep and seemingly bottomless pit below them. They looked to see if they saw anymore sightings of Hao or the robot but there was nothing. They were sure after a fall like that, no one would be able to survive it.

Mighty slowly looked away from the cliff and turned back to the group. "It's...it's over? Is it finally over?"

Elias crossed his arms as he took one more glance down the black hole below them. "No one could survive a fall like that."

Silver shifted his eyes back over to Elias, "If he's dead, then good riddance."

Amy suddenly began to jump up and cheer in excitement. "We won!"

Silver watched as Blaze walked over to him and hugged him lovingly. As he returned her embrace, he looked over to the rest of the group. "You all did great, guys."

With the rain now gently falling from the sky and the storm slowly passing through, Sonic turned to Sally with a warm smile. He slowly reached out and gently wiped some of the wet hair from Sally's face. "Are you okay, Sal?"

As she felt his hand gently caressing her wet face, a slight blush formed on her face, "You saved my life back there. I couldn't be better."

"Well I couldn't exactly let you go." The smile on his face had slowly started to fade, "I should've never let you go..."

When she saw the sudden guilty expression on his face, she had gotten concerned for him. "Sonic..." She spoke in a low soft tone while he continued to caress her face.

His eyes slowly shifted away from hers, "You know it was hard when you left. I tried to forget about us. I tried...forgetting about you, but I couldn't. Because I realized..." His eyes had then looked back over to her, "I could never forget such an amazing woman."

When she stepped closer to him, he had done the same. Her eyes were lost as she gazed into his. "Sonic..."

He wrapped his arms around her waist gently and held her body close to his. His face was only inches away from hers. "I love you, Sally Acorn."

She gently placed her hands on the sides of his face as she continued to lock her eyes with his. "I love you, Sonic The Hedgehog." The two of them leaned in closer and closer until their lips were finally pressed against each other.

With happy looks on their faces the group watched as the two locked lips with each other.

Amy clasped her hands together happily as she watched the both of them sharing a passionate kiss. "Aw! They're back together!"

With a sly smile on his face, Mighty crossed his arms as he watched the two kissing. "Told you they were back fucking."

With a sweat drop on the side of his head, Tails narrowed his eyes over to the two lovers. "Okay you, love birds..."

With Sally hearing some of their comments, she broke her kiss with Sonic and turned to the group with a massive red blush on her face. "Geez you guys are so embarrassing!"

"But you make it so easy", Mighty had teased.

With a small smile on his face, Shadow watched as the group had innocently teased Sonic and Sally. His eyes shifted over to Sally who was talking with the group and was more than happy that Sonic and Sally had gotten back together but he felt something deep down that was quite right. He couldn't put his finger on it but it felt like a guilty kind of feeling.

Elias happily watched as Sonic and Sally spoke with the group until he heard a slight vibration from his cell phone that was in the inside of his pants pocket. He took out the phone and began to read the text that was sent from Gardon. Once he read it, he placed his hand on the side of his forehead and sadly shook his head. "No..." He spoke in a hoarse and low tone.

Sally and the rest of the group, noticed Elias' reaction and walked over to him in worry. "...Elias? What's wrong?"

He shifted his saddened eyes from hers and said nothing as he slowly extended the phone out towards her so she could read the text.

Once Sally glanced through the text, watery quickly surfaced into her eyes. She turned back to Elias with a look of shock and disbelief. "Elias..." She called out in a low and distraught tone.

Sonic saw how upset she and Elias had become and he had no clue what had suddenly upset them. He slowly approached her and placed a hand gently on Sally's shoulder. "...Sal?"

Once she felt, Sonic's hand land on her shoulder, a tear had fell down the cheek of her face. She spun around to Sonic and hugged him tightly as she buried her face into his chest.

Sonic had soon heard her softly sobbing into her chest while he held her into his arms.

"Oh, Sonic", she sobbed softly. She continued to bury her wet face into his chest. "Father...he..."

Once she mentioned her father, it didn't take him and the rest of the group long to finally put the pieces together. After a long battle of fighting against his sickness, King Acorn was dead.

 **Author's Note: Sorry about the last few chapters being so short. The next one will be longer! Anyway get ready! The last chapter will be posted tomorrow! See you then!**

 **In The Next Chapter...The Last Chapter!**

 **Shadow: Sally, what the hell are you doing?**

 **Sally: We're two different people living in two different worlds, Shadow...**

 **Luke: He didn't kill me...**

 **Amethyst: Fiona...**

 **Rouge: If The Dark Alliance is looking for a war then I say we give it to them!**

 **Freya: Who's that little girl?**

 **Angel: This is gonna be so much fun!**


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

A few days had passed and it was a sunny and beautiful early morning at the castle in Acorn Kingdom. All of the villagers of Knothole were standing in front of the castle directing their attention towards the balcony of the large castle with happily looks and full of excitement. The Freedom Fighters were even within the crowd of people.

With Gardon, Sonic, and Sally standing on the far side of the balcony and Shadow standing across from them on the opposite side, they all watched as Elias slowly and slightly anxious made his way towards the end of the balcony.

Once he made his way towards the end of the balcony, he looked down at the excited crowd of people that was below him.

Gardon, Sally, Sonic, and Shadow saw his new royal attire and couldn't help but to stare in admiration.

He was wearing his usual royal outfit but instead of his cape being red, it appeared to be a gold color and it was of a silk rich like material and also he now wore his father's old gold crown on his head. A warm and small smile formed on his lips as he looked down at the excited villagers below him. He slowly extended his hand and held it up to settle down the excited villagers. Once he had gotten everyone's attention, he lowered his hand and began to speak, "My fellow citizens. Today marks a new chapter for me and for you. I promise you and everything that resides in this kingdom will be forever at peace. And I swear that no harm will be bestowed within this beautiful place that we all live in. I will keep my father's beliefs alive and carry on his legacy." He had then raised his fist into the air, "I'll be sure of it as your new king of Kingdom of Acorn!" Afterwards he heard the loud and excited cheers coming from the large crowd of villagers who stood in front of the castle.

"All hail, King Elias!"

While the crowd cheered Elias's name, Gardon stood there with a wide smile on his face while he admired Elias looking down at the happy villagers.

With a proud look on her face, Sally listened as she heard her brother's name fill the entire kingdom. She stood closer to Sonic and leaned her head gently against his chest while he held her hand.

With his arms crossed and a small smile on Shadow's lips, he watched Elias waving down at the villagers who was cheering his name over and over.

Later on that evening after the coronation ceremony, the sun was starting to set in the orange sky while Elias, Gardon, and the rest of The Freedom Fighters stood in a large and dusty plain that was located not far from the kingdom. They were all there to say their goodbyes to Shadow and Sally before they were off back to Tech City.

A warm smile formed on Elias's lips as he directed his attention to Shadow. "I want to thank you for coming to the kingdom in its time of need."

"It's no problem..." Shadow formed a sly smile as he slightly glanced at Elias' new royal attire. "...Your majesty."

A slight chuckle had escaped from him after hearing Shadow's response. Yes he was officially the new king of Acorn Kingdom but he never wanted that to change him or how his close friends had looked at him. He placed his hands on his hips, "Oh stop with the formalities. You can still call me Elias."

Gardon crossed his arms as he turned his head in annoyance. He personally as his trusted and royal right hand guard didn't like referring to Elias as anyone except his king to show him his most respect for him. "I don't care what you say. I'm still going to address you as King Elias."

Elias arched an eyebrow towards him and knew how Gardon felt about him simply respecting him. "Of course I expect nothing less from you, Gardon." He turned back to Shadow and Sally, "Also thank you for attending my coronation. It meant a lot to me."

Sally smiled warmly towards him, "Hey wouldn't miss it for the world, big brother. I'm so proud of you, Elias and I'm sure mother and father would be too."

With the same heartfelt look on his face, he made a nod. It had been days since their father passed and he and Sally were both in deep distraught. There was a few moments when he fell completely to pieces and so did Sally but it was a great feeling knowing the two had picked each other back up when they needed it the most.

Silver turned to Gardon as a sudden thought came across his mind. "So what's the scoop on Hao?"

The koala slightly shrugged his shoulders and turned to him. "My men are still searching throughout Windy Valley and the rest of the kingdom but so far no luck."

Blaze crossed her arms and placed a finger to her chin. "There's no way anyone could survive a fall like that. He has to be dead."

Tails shrugged his shoulders and turned to her, "But there was no body." He looked over to Gardon, "They found the robot but no Hao right?"

Gardon had made a slight nod as he started to think deeply about what actually happened to Hao. "It's strange but it's like he just...disappeared."

Elias turned to the group and gently clenched his fist. "Dead or not. If he is still out there, we will be there to put a stop to him once again."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they felt ready to take on Hao if he were ever to show his face in their kingdom once again.

Sonic slowly approached Sally and gave her a sympathetic look. "...So", he began. "This is it huh?"

Sally made a small yet sad nod, "...I have to go back. Elias will take care of Acorn Kingdom and I need to take care of Future City. It's my home. I can't abandon my team. They need me."

The blue hedgehog's eyes slowly shifted away from hers as he made a small nod, "I understand, Sal..."

Sally heard the tone of Sonic's voice and could tell that he was upset that she was leaving not only the kingdom but him also all over again. She then saw him look back over to her with a wide and bright smile on his face.

"Well it was great! Good luck!"

Sally knew even by his facial expression that he was obviously hiding the fact that he was heartbroken that she was leaving him. She felt awful for doing this to him but she felt that she had no other option.

Shadow saw the saddened look on Sally's face and could tell Sonic was just trying to hide how he really felt about her leaving. Sally was now considered his friend and he hated seeing her like this. He placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Before she had the chance to reply to him, he had pulled her to the side and away from the confused group.

"What the hell are you doing?" He held out his hands in confusion and whispered in a tone only he and Sally could hear.

She slightly shrugged her shoulders and whispered back to him in the same low tone. "What do you mean what the hell am I doing? I'm going back to Future City."

His eyes glanced over to a confused looking Sonic and then back at Sally. "But what about Sonic?"

She slightly raised an eyebrow as he heard him slip Sonic's name. "...What about Sonic?"

"This guy loves you."

She placed her hand on the side of her head and made a frustrated sigh. It was strange that Shadow suddenly took in concern for her and Sonic's relationship. She honestly thought he couldn't care less but he was actually concerned for them. "I...I know but it won't work. We're two different people living in two different worlds..."

"Sally", he spoke. "I'm going to be real with you." He pointed to himself and then back at her. "This is coming from one Council member to another."

She slightly tilted her head in confusion. What was going on? What was he starting to get at?

He slightly sighed before he began to speak again. "Look he may not be the most professional guy in the world." He couldn't help but to slightly roll his eyes, "He has the personality of a fucking teenager who is constantly eating a spoonful of sugar." He again let out another small sigh, "But...even I have to admit that when it comes to being on the field, he's an amazing strategist. Honestly one of the best I've seen in a while."

He was talking Sonic up but why was the question. She had really thought that he was nothing but an annoyance to him. "...What are you saying?"

A small smile formed on his lips, "...I think he'd make an amazing Field Mission Specialist."

A small gasp had escaped her as she kept putting the image of Sonic as a detective over and over in her mind. She and the rest of the Council knew that Shadow's team was the only team in the district that had Field Mission Specialists. Her team would be the second to acquire one. "A Field Mission Specialist..."

He made a nod, "I think he would be good for your team."

Was this really happening? Did she really think Sonic would be cut out for that kind of line of work? Was it worth the risk just so they could finally be together? She was open for the idea but a lot of negative thoughts were clouding her mind. "Shadow..."

"Besides, Sally..." He watched as she turned to stare at the blue hedgehog who had looked back at her with a concerned look on his face. He glanced at Sonic and then back at her while she stared mindlessly at the blue hedgehog. "You love him."

As she stared at him, she knew that he wasn't wrong. She did in fact love him and it broke her heart to think that she had to leave him again just for the sake of her job. She then slowly walked back over to Sonic who had continued to give her a confused look. Her heart raced as she stepped closer and closer to him. What if he turned the position down? What if he didn't want any part of being a detective? What if he just wanted to stay within the kingdom and be with her? There was only one way to find out. "Sonic", she spoke in a low tone. "I...I don't want this to happen again."

He continued to give her a confused look. He had no idea what she and Shadow had talked about but he knew it was serious and it clearly had something to do with him.

She locked her blue eyes with his and slightly shook her head, "I don't want to be away from you."

A small smile formed on Sonic's lips in relief. He never knew if Sally actually cared about him on a count of this would be the second time she left him. But now he knew for certain that she had felt the same way he had. "Me neither, Sal." He watched as she slowly reached out towards him to gently hold his hand.

She tried to shake off her low and anxious voice and tried to talk more professionally and firmly as she started to ask him the question that could possibly determine both of their futures. "Sonic, as a Council member, I would like to propose a position to you."

A sudden blank look had took over his face. What was going on? Why was she talking like this? His heart raced as he grew more and more anxious.

"Would you like to be The Royal Guardians' new Field Mission Specialist?"

His eyes widened when he heard those words slipping from her lips. She wanted him to go back with her to Future City and as a detective member for her team. He took his free hand and pointed to himself. "Wha? Me?"

She made a nervous and small nod. Judging by the tone of his voice, she could already tell that he didn't seem to sure of the idea.

Sonic turned back to the rest of the group and saw them all smiling warmly towards him when they also heard Sally's job proposal towards him.

A wide smile formed on Amy's lips when she saw Sonic looking back at her and the rest of the group for a reaction. She slightly jumped from the ground and shouted out in an excited tone. "Go for it, Sonic!"

Mighty formed a slight smirk and crossed his arms, "Hey you always said you wanted to see more of the world."

With Blaze leaning her head on his shoulder, Silver happily looked over to Sonic. "Dude, if your worried about the kingdom, no worries. We'll hold down the fort here."

Sonic's was surprised to see the group happily reacting to Sally's proposal towards him. His eyes had then slowly looked over to Tails and saw him giving him an assured nod. Yes Sonic was close with The Freedom Fighters but he and Tails had been with each other since the beginning. The two were best friends and whenever he went out on a big adventure, he was always by his side. If anyone's opinion had mattered, it was Tails'. When he saw him proudly looking over to him and nodding, he just knew that going with Sally to Future City would be good for him. He turned away from Tails and looked back at Sally with a wide smile. "Heh, it looks like you gained yourself a new teammate, Sal!"

Shadow and the rest of the group watched as the two shared a happy and loving embrace with each other.

Of course Tails was sad that his best friend was leaving the kingdom but at the same time, he couldn't have been more happy for him. He made a slight smirk, "You better come back and visit us sometime."

"Oh you can count on it!" While he still held Sally in his arms, he looked over to Shadow. "Looks like we're gonna be working together eh, Shadow?"

Shadow crossed his arms and flashed his eyes away from him. He was happy to see Sally so happy and he never hated Sonic in any way. He just found him super annoying. "You'll see me around."

Sally pulled Sonic away from her and looked back at the group. "Well we should get going." She waved at Elias and the group. "Goodbye, guys! Goodbye, brother!"

They all had waved and said their goodbyes as well while Sonic, Sally, and Shadow began to walk off together.

With a small smile on his face, Tails watched as Sonic walked away with Sally and Shadow. "...Do you think he'll be okay?"

Silver who stood beside Tails made a small nod and watched as they all walked away as well. "Hey he is Sonic after all. He'll do great things in Future City. I know he will."

With his smile widened, Tails nodded happily as he agreed with Silver.

While they walked together, Sonic stood in between Sally and Shadow and placed his hands on their shoulders with an excited look on his face. "I'm so pumped! Me! A demon slaying detective! In the big city! With my two favorite people!" He paused for a slight moment and turned to Sally, "...So what's a Field Mission Specialist anyway?"

"We'll explain on the way, hun", she replied in a calm tone.

"I am still gonna be like...slaying demons or something right? I don't really completely understand your line of work."

"You'll be informed more about your job title in time", Shadow spoke in a seemingly tired tone. His eyes widened as he heard Sonic excitedly shout out.

"Sounds like demon ass kicking to me! I can't wait!"

Sally looked over and saw Shadow heavily sighing and rubbing his forehead. A small smile formed on her lips as she watched Shadow getting more and more annoyed with him. She knew deep down that Shadow didn't have to do what he had but it was all for the sake of her happiness and it warmed her to know to Shadow wanted to see her happy.

Shadow heavily sighed as Sonic continued to excitedly rant about the new life he would start in Future City. "God what the hell have I done?"

With a small and calmly smile on her face, she watched as Sonic happily continued to speak out.

"This is so exciting!" Sonic took his hands away from their shoulders and placed a finger to his chin while he continued to walk alongside the two. "Hmm..." He looked over to Sally with a small smile, "Hey, Sal? In Future City...do they have chili dogs there?"

The next day, it was a bright and sunny early morning in Industrial City. Within the Industrial City Hospital, Nicole was in a small, quiet and seemingly empty room. She sat in a small wooden chair that was beside the small bed within the room. She tiredly stared at the sleeping black jackal who was laying in the bed.

He laid there practically covered in bandages from his injuries. He looked awful but it seemed that he was sleeping peacefully.

As she stared at his sleeping face all she heard was the constant beeping coming from the heart monitor that was near her. When she felt herself about to slowly drift off to sleep, she heard a small groaning coming from the jackal. Her eyes shot open and her ears perked up as she focused her attention towards the jackal who was slowly waking from his sleep. She quickly stood from her chair in excitement and looked down upon him. "...Lucas?" She watched as he slowly opened his eyes and looked over to her.

"...Nicole?" He spoke in a low and groggy tone. He watched as she happily leaned over and hugged him.

With tears of relief in her eyes, she held onto his body lovingly. "Oh, Lucas! You're okay! Thank God!" She had then heard him murmuring while she hugged him.

While he held her in his arms, he stared up at the white ceiling blankly, "He..."

She slightly leaned her body from his and looked back at him with a confused look on her face.

"He didn't kill me..."

She knew that he was referring to Scourge. It was no surprise that he was still pretty traumatized from his fight with him. However even she couldn't help but to wonder. Why didn't Scourge kill Luke when he had the chance? The room was filled with a moment of silence as the two were deep in thought until the door to the room had suddenly opened. She turned and saw a young pink jackal girl running into the room with a worried look on her face.

The young girl practically resembled Luke and appeared to be around five years old.

She watched as the young girl practically pushed her away and ran over to Luke with tears running down her face.

"Daddy! Daddy! Are you okay?" She asked while loudly sobbing as she leaned over to Luke.

Luke looked down at the young child who clung to the white bed sheets and looked up at him with face soak in wet in tears. A small and warm smile formed on his lips as he gazed upon her saddened expression. "Ariana, calm down", he spoke in a calming voice as he hugged her. "I'm fine."

She continued to hug him while he tried to wipe away some of her tears. "Mommy said you got hurt at work and I was so worried!"

He hushed her as he continued to hold her lovingly, "Don't worry. I'm fine, sweetie. Everything's okay."

Nicole arched an eyebrow as Luke tried to calm down his upset daughter. She knew Ariana was far too young to come to the hospital herself so someone had to bring her. Once she heard footsteps coming into the room, she turned back towards the doorway and saw the adult version of Ariana stepping into the room.

The pink jackal woman stood at the doorway and flipped her long blue hair slightly over her shoulder while she held a cigarette in her hand.

Nicole couldn't help but to heavily sigh as her eyes fell upon the woman jackal. "Lori..."

The jackal woman blew out some smoke from her mouth and glared coldly over at Nicole. "Hello, Nicole. Fancy seeing you here."

She watched as she made her way more into the room while closing the door behind her. "Of course I'm here. I wanted to be sure Lucas was okay."

In disgust she glanced her up and down and lowly scoffed under her breath. "Interesting..." She turned to Luke who was giving her a slightly annoyed look. "Lucas, you can never stay out of the hospital can you?"

He narrowed his eyes over to her and sighed slightly, "Hello, Lori..."

She began to slightly wave her cigarette around as she spoke. "Don't get it twisted. I didn't come to get all mushy or nothing. Ariana wanted to see you."

Nicole watched as she took another puff of her cigarette, "There's no smoking in here..."

She turned to her an raised an eyebrow towards her, "Oh really? Well in that case..." She held the cigarette up towards her so she could take it from her before she blew out more smoke. "Get rid of this for me would you, cupcake?"

When Nicole practically snatched the cigarette from her hands she flashed her eyes over to Luke.

Luke had given her an uneasy look in return. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Lori and Nicole never got along with each other but she knew Nicole was biting her tongue all for the sake of the dim situation and trying to not upset Ariana.

The slamming of Kevin's fist hitting the front desk echoed in the silent lobby within The Radiant Guard headquarters. The black crow angrily looked down at the brown desk he had slammed his fist down on. "Damn it! I can't believe this shit!"

Silas had his back leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He had his head slightly turned away from the rest of the group with a worried look on his face. "I can't believe she's...she's one of them..."

Riley stood in a far corner of the room distancing herself from the rest of the group. It had been days since she and Freya reported to their teams about Fiona's betrayal but everyone was still taking the situation pretty hard. For her the most as she felt like she had lost a long time friend. Her eyes blankly stared down at the floor while she was deep in thought. Her and the rest of the group heard soft sobbing coming from Amethyst.

Amethyst sat at the front desk with her head looking downward as she sobbed into her hands that was covering her face. She slightly shook her head, "No", she sobbed softly. "Not her. Not my Fiona..."

Lydia stood in the middle of the lobby with her hands in the pockets of her blue skinny jeans. She glanced around the lobby full of upset detectives and made an angered look. She took a deep breath before she spoke up. "Stop it", she spoke in a demanding tone. "All of you."

The group paused and strayed away from their thoughts as they directed their attention towards Lydia.

Once Lydia knew everyone had their eyes on her, she began to speak once more. She made a small nod, "Yes we lost Fiona to The Dark Alliance and it sucks we don't have a Weapon Specialist. Let alone our friend."

With her saying that, Riley had slowly shifted her eyes away from her but continued to still listen to her.

"But we can't let this be the thing to make our team fall weak." She began to slowly pace around the lobby, "If anything, this has opened our eyes on who our real enemies are." She took one hand out of her pocket and clenched it into a fist. "Fiona made this choice and now her along with Scourge has to deal with the consequences." When she looked over to Riley, she saw her sadly looking down onto the floor. She then turned away from Riley and started to make her way towards her office. She looked over to Amethyst who was trying to wipe some of her tears away. She made a disgusted look towards her, "And, Amethyst? Get a grip for God's sake." She spoke in a bitter tone before heading back into her office.

Later it was around noon at the Chaotix and the group was in the lobby discussing what had happened a few nights ago. Ever since Freya and Riley reported about Fiona working with Scourge and The Dark Alliance, the Council and all of the detective teams were aware of what was going on.

Tonya leaned her back against the desk chair she had sat in at her desk. She glanced up at the white ceiling and slightly sighed, "So it's finally been confirmed huh? Fiona's working with The Dark Alliance..."

Freya slowly made a nod while she sat on a black stool with wheels on it. She slightly turned her body on it while she sat on the stool. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the image of Scourge and Fiona becoming blood thirsty demons out of her mind.

Espio placed a finger to his chin while he leaned against the front desk Tonya had sat it. "This is insane. First Scourge and now Fiona." He looked towards the confused and shocked group, "What exactly is The Dark Alliance up to?"

Appex slightly shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms while he stood across from him. "You got me, but sounds to me they're slowly getting more and more reinforcements."

Ker nervously bit his lip as he became more and more worried about the situation. "An army..."

"With not only Almas but high ranking demons as well", Charmy spoke while he sat next to Grace who clung to his arm with a worried look on her face.

Grace slightly bit her lip as she clung tighter to Charmy's arm, "It almost sounds like a war."

"Well if it's a war they want..."

Everyone turned and saw Rouge stepping into the lobby with her wearing a leather skin tight black bodysuit. She also had on black leather gloves and black leather knee high boots that had a slight heel to them.

She stood there with a confident look on her face while she clenched her fist, "Then that's what we'll give them!"

Espio's eyes widened as he couldn't help but to blush slightly as he gazed upon her revealing outfit. It especially didn't help that the cleavage revealing to her chest was very visible. "R-Rouge! You're wearing the gunsuit?"

She glanced down at the black bodysuit she wore and turned back to the flustered chameleon. While looking down at her clenched fist, she formed a small smirk. "I know it's been awhile since I've worn this but I thought I'd give it a workout to see if it still performs as well as it did before."

Freya's mouth hung open from the revealing suit Rouge had wore. "Uh, Miss Rouge? Isn't that a little tight for you?"

Midnight made a teasing look towards her, "Wouldn't really call that much of a battle suit..."

A sweat drop formed on the side of Tonya's head as her eyes narrowed over to Rouge's outfit. She always knew that Rouge wore revealing outfits so she thought she would be used to seeing this kind of thing from her, but no. She managed to be surprised every time. "I think the last time she wore that was before she got pregnant with Spike."

An irritated looked formed on Rouge's face while she heard everyone's comments. She flashed her eyes over to Tonya. "What! You're calling me fat or something!"

Charmy slightly sighed and crossed his arms. " You? Fat? No way. That suit fit you the same way it did the day you first made it."

Tonya even had to agree that despite it being years and years, Rouge never really managed to pick up any weight even after her pregnancy. "Yeah she made that suit a little after she was hired here."

A sly look formed on Espio's face as he pointed over towards Rouge. "That suit was probably the one thing that kept Shadow from firing you." When he began to laugh, he was suddenly hit in the head with a black stapler.

With shocked looks on their faces, the group watched as he fell to the floor from the impact of the stapler.

While Espio groaned in pain on the floor, Rouge huffed angrily and placed her hands on her hips, "Screw you, guys! You're all nothing but perverts!"

Espio stood from the floor while holding the side of his throbbing head from where Rouge had thrown the stapler at him. "Hey! You can't blame us! Just look at you!" He held out his hand towards her in a confusing gesture, "That suit makes you look like you're prancing around in a dominatrix outfit! What the hell kind of reaction were you expecting out of us!"

Tonya glared over at the chameleon and crossed her arms in annoyance. "Uh I expect you to stop staring..." She spoke in an irritated tone under her breath.

Rouge scoffed under her breath and flashed her eyes away from him. "Whatever! This suit was one of my greatest creations!" She looked down at her hands and slowly clenched them into fists. "When I'm wearing this, I feel like I'm practically unstoppable. Shadow even says he sees a drastic change."

A slight smirk formed on Espio's lips, "Heh, on the battlefield or in bed?"

Rouge once again glared over to the purple chameleon. "...Do you want me to throw another stapler at your head?"

At first Tonya had felt sort of bad for Espio when Rouge had hit him in the head with the stapler, but this time she thought that she wouldn't mind seeing that happen again. "Maybe a stapler wasn't hard enough..."

Before he or anyone could say anything else, they all felt a sudden shake. The shaking was enough to knock a few things off of the desk and walls.

Grace held onto Charmy in worry even after the shaking had stopped. "Wha? What was that?"

"It almost felt like an earthquake?", Midnight nervously looked around the lobby to see if anything was out of the ordinary but he saw nothing that had caught his eye.

Espio directed his attention towards the entrance doors. He knew whatever it was, had came from outside. "I'm gonna check it out."

When Rouge saw Espio running towards the door, she decided to follow him. "I'm coming with you."

Charmy sprang up from his seat as he was curious to know what had happened. "Me too!"

When Freya saw them all rush out the doors, she wanted to see what was gong on and wanted to help in any way that she could. She quickly stood from the black stool she was sitting on. "Wait for me!" When she rushed outside, she stood alongside Espio, Rouge, and Charmy only to find them staring at two mysterious figures who stood in a far distance across from them. She turned back towards the agency and saw a small cloud of black smoke coming from something that appeared to have been shot in the ground next to the agency. She glanced back at the two figures and began to heavily observe them. When her eyes fell upon a familiar white male bat figure, they slowly widened.

The white male bat stood across from the group while having the long brown handle of his scythe resting on his shoulder as he glanced over to the young female rabbit child who held a large dark green rocket launcher in her hands.

The child seemed to have struggled while holding the large weapon in her hands. "Aw nuts! I missed!"

A small chuckle escaped the bat, "That launcher is bigger than you, Angel."

Freya gasped as her eyes continued to stare at the familiar bat and just by hearing the sound of his voice, it had confirmed who he was. "Hey isn't that..."

Rouge clenched her fists tightly as she angrily stared at the bat. "Brother..." she spoke in a low and angry tone.

Charmy arched an eyebrow as he looked over at the young girl who stood next to Rouge's cousin. "And a...little girl?"

Freya studied the girl and saw that she had long snow white hair with long drooped ears. Her outfit had even seemed childish. She wore a black dress with white lace all around it and wore black flat dress shoes. She was short and appeared to be around the age of ten. "Who is she?" Freya asked in a low tone as she slightly shifted her eyes over to Charmy. "And what is she doing with Sky?"

Angel raised the launcher into the air and repeatedly pulled the trigger only to find out that it wasn't firing. She lowered the launcher and had an unbelievable look on her face. "Wha? Can this thing only fire one round? How lame! Scourge's weapons suck!" She had then angrily tossed the now useless launcher onto the black pavement away from her.

Rouge's ears perked up as she heard the young girl mention Scourge's name. She turned to Espio, "That girl spoke Scourge's name."

Espio stared at the little girl and just knew something was off about her. Especially how she had looked in the face with her menacing red eyes. Indeed something sinister was about her. He decided to speak out towards her, "How do you know Scourge and why are you with Sky? Just who are you?"

The young girl placed her hands on her hips and slightly tilted her head as she looked towards Espio. "You ask a lot of questions you know that? But if you must know..." She pointed towards the group with an evil smirk while flashing her fangs. "My name is Angel and I serve my master, Lord Dark!"

Once Freya heard her mention Dark's name, there was without a doubt that she was indeed a demon. "She's a...demon?"

Espio continued to bitterly look over towards the demonic girl. "Now it's all making sense especially from how young she looks." He figured that since she took the form of a little girl, perhaps she was turned while she was just at that point of her life. A normal and mortal child. He slightly began to wonder what had happened in her past life. He tried to shrug off his thoughts as he thought that wasn't very important at the time being. All that mattered was that she was there now and clearly a threat towards him and the rest of the Chaotix. He clenched his fists and stood in a fighting stance. "What do you want?"

A wide smile formed on Angel's lips, "I wanna play!" She slowly raised her hand in the air and snapped her fingers.

Before they all knew it, Espio and the group saw three small black voids appear around them suddenly and then saw huge brown four legged creatures with glowing red eyes, drooling sharp fangs, and razor sharp claws leap out of the black voids.

Freya stepped back as she saw the sight of the horrid and seemingly bloodthirsty creatures. "Oh shit..." she swore lowly under her breath.

Charmy glared at the demonic creatures that began to slowly surround them. "Almas..."

A giggle had escaped from Angel as she saw the creatures stepping closer to them. "I wanna see how strong you really are. And why you've been such a pain in Lord Dark's ass."

Espio took a step back as the Almas were getting closer to them. "That brat..." He knew that Almas always roamed wherever they pleased but once a high ranking demon such as Angel were around them, they did what they wanted them to do once they were summoned. They almost acted as if they were their pets.

Rouge raised her clenched fists towards the creatures as they got closer. "If they wanna fight. Let's give them one!"

A small smirk formed on Charmy's lips when he saw Rouge starting to charge towards the Almas. "I like your attitude, Rouge." He had then decided to charge into battle as well.

When Espio saw them both starting to fight the Almas, he had decided to do the same. "Let's do it!"

"Right!" With a fire like aurora around her hands, Freya watched as one of the creatures ran towards her. She swung her clenched fist at it and watched as the fire from her fist made its way towards the Almas.

The fire attack had hit and injured one of its legs. It cried out in pain from the burning attack and kneeled down to the ground.

While seeing the Almas weakened, Espio quickly leapt in the air while taking out his giant shuriken and threw it towards its neck. He watched as the sharp blade from his shuriken easily sliced off the demon's head.

Once Freya saw the creature's head roll onto the ground, she turned to Espio who had picked his bloody weapon off from the ground. "That was awesome, Captain Espio!"

He made a nod and stuck out his thumb towards her. He then saw Rouge using her wings to fly high into the air above them.

While Rouge hovered above one of the Almas, she held her clenched fist down towards it. "Okay", she spoke lowly under her breath. "Let's see if I still got it." She watched as her hand slowly had transformed into a strange gun with a long barrel to it. She aimed the gun towards the Almas and fired it towards the center of its head.

Sky watched as a giant burning hole was seen through the creature's head before it collapsed to the ground. He slightly bit his lip as he stared at the Almas that was on the ground. He looked back up at Rouge and watched as the strange gun the suit had equipped her with had transformed back into her hand. He knew that Rouge was a gifted Weapon Specialist and any weapon that she possessed was always altered in some sort of way. Although the bodysuit she wore was extremely interesting and quite different from anything else he had seen her use in battle. "...Didn't know she had a toy like that", he spoke in a low tone under his breath.

When Rouge landed back on the ground, she saw Charmy approaching the creature she had took down and officially killed it off by slicing its head from its body by using one of his sharp daggers.

Espio saw the last Almas coming towards Rouge at an amazing speed while she had her attention directed away from it. "Rouge!"

Rouge saw the last Almas coming towards her at the corner of her eye and formed a smirk. "I got this." When she clenched her fist, her hand had suddenly transformed into a huge spiked hand gauntlet. With great force, she punched the creature directly in the face and slammed its head down onto the ground.

While the creature cried out in pain from the spiked gauntlet crushing its face, Sky watched as a long and sharp blade appeared out of the arms of the suit and easily sliced off the Almas head. He made a small whistle as she killed the Almas. "Nice..."

Espio and the rest of the group stood next to each other and glared towards Angel and Sky. "Is that all you demons got?"

Angel slightly rubbed her chin while a small smirk was still present on her lips. "I'll admit your skills are impressive but don't think just because you can kill a few Almas, you'll stand a chance against The Dark Alliance..." When she took a small step forward, her body froze when she heard a sudden male voice speaking out in the distance.

"Whoa what's going on here?"

She and everyone else turned their head only to find a strange male blue hedgehog with a puzzled look on his face while standing next to Shadow and Sally with confused looks on their faces also.

While everyone stood there in silence, Shadow's eyes glanced at the corpses of the Almas that were scattered all over the ground and then Sky who was standing next to a strange white rabbit child. He didn't know what exactly was going on but once he saw Sky's face, he knew that it wasn't good.

With an unbelievable look on her face, Rouge stared at the familiar black and red hedgehog who stood next to Sally and the strange blue hedgehog who was with them. Her heart raced happily as she looked at him. "...Shadow?"

Shadow shifted his eyes back and forth between Sky and the little girl and Rouge and the rest of the relieved looking group of detectives. He had to wonder what was happening and what the hell did he just walk into? "...Holy shit..."

 **Author's Note: Well there you have it! I'm just gonna say this was probably the fastest I've ever completed an actual full story. I'll be honest, I couldn't have made it through without all of you guys' amazing support. You all made this story happen and made it turn out as successful as it did and I am so grateful for that so I can't say thank you enough.**

 **Also I do know that some of you were over with the fact that this story did contain too many side stories and characters. Yes I did realize that this story was all over the place and there was a reason behind that so much was going on within the story. All of the events taken place here will effect future stories. Everything has to run together so no one will get confused in upcoming stories. I know I've skipped around in my stories in the past and caused a mass amount of confusion but I'm trying to better myself and stick to what stories are supposed to come first. Trust me. I'm taking all of your critics to heart and I'm trying to better my work for you guys.**

 **Anyway enough rambling lol. I ended this with quite a cliffhanger. Who is Angel? And what does she want with the Chaotix team? What lies in store for Shadow? Will Rouge ever find out about Shadow and Sally's close moment with each other? All will be revealed in the next story! Demon Wars will be posted tomorrow! Get pumped and see you guys on the flipside!**


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